


Little Ole Broken Me

by Rnd_Injustice



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Past Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, bitty - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-01-27 21:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 80,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12591156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rnd_Injustice/pseuds/Rnd_Injustice
Summary: Bitties are humans who use to be full size, now with no memory of their past lives or even their name. For their own protection, and to improve relationships between monsters and humans, bitties are placed at adoption centres, awaiting to be adopted by monsters.Tina is one of said bitties; a rare adult bitty, and while she can't remember her past, she wishes she could forget the monster who tortured her to the brink of madness. Now she spends her days in the adoption centre, wondering if broken things can ever be healed or if she can truly trust that grinning skeleton.





	1. The Broken One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !WARNING!  
>  If you can’t stand death, blood and violence, then you should stop reading. This isn’t a happy story; it’s about surviving something horrible and trying to make it work.
> 
> Hope…sometimes hope can destroy someone more completely than torture. If you can’t understand that, if that doesn’t make sense to you, please read something else.  
> I’ve got plenty of happy stories!
> 
> ….but this isn’t one of them.

Tina looked out from her position on the bitty balcony, adjacent to their sleeping quarters, watching the various monsters interact with her younger, fellow bitties. From here, she could see various different coloured shirted children bitties interacting with both their favourite and new monsters alike. A few of the shyer ones were talking to a few of the monsters they felt comfortable with, while many more were off doing their own thing; playing with the toys, playing games with each other or simply having a nap.

Today, as was always the case when a new monster appeared, all the bitties were trying to get as close to the new monster as possible. A tall, boisterous skeleton knelt in the middle of the play area, surrounded by a sea of different coloured bitties. A shorter, grinning skeleton stood off to the side, behind the barrier that separated the bitty interaction section with the rest of the bitty adoption centre, watching the tall skeleton's interaction.

But Tina wasn't watching either skeleton; her focus was on a single, green-shirt, young boy, currently ducking and weaving around the tall skeleton's kneeling legs. He seemed to be having the time of his life, smiling that smile she loved to see on him, the one that made the whole world just a little bit better.

"Tina?"

She looked up to see a green-shirted girl standing fidgeting off to the side, holding up a thimble filled with liquid. The girl flinched as she approached her, her hands shaking so hard they almost spilled what was inside.

"Ma-Mama Cry says you n-need your medicine."

Tina took the thimble from the girl, offering a huge smile, "Thank you."

The girl flinched at the sound of her voice, looking anywhere but at her, "Yo-you're welcome."

Then she ran, not looking back.

Tina sighed. Looking into the thimble confirmed it was just Sea Tea. Quickly drinking it, she considered the possibility of one day other bitties being able to stand near her, without the fear in their eyes.

Knowing the answer would be no, Tina returned to her spot and took out her ever-present, bitty sized sketchbook and pencil. She looked before her and started to sketch the scene that laid before her; of Greeny ducking and weaving through a kneeling skeleton's impossibly long legs, smiling up at the tall skeleton who smiled back all the while the shorter, grinning skeleton watched the whole scene.

This, at least, brought her some joy to do.

~*~

"His name is Papyrus."

Tina looked up from her nearly finished sketch to the beaming smile of Greeny. Looking past him, she saw that both skeletons were talking to Mama Cry, the monster owner and foster mother to the bitty centre, over by the centre's front desk. Her long, large ears poking up from her bright red hair moved constantly side to side as (Tina knew) she kept one ear focused on the conversation and one on the bitties' interactions.

Tina looked back down at her sketch, pointing to the tall skeleton.

"Yea, that him, that's his name."

Greeny lent over her to point at the shorter skeleton, "And his name is Sans. He's Papyrus's older brother. He's kinda a slob though, tells bad puns and is really lazy. But Papyrus says he's a really good brother and he's really lucky to have him and that he loves him a whole lot, even if he isn't as great as he is."

Tina continued to smile, pointing to the picture of Papyrus before pointing at Greeny.

"Oh, I think Papyrus is awesome! And so nice. He let run around his bones and even let me up on his shoulder-"

Suddenly, Greeny grabbed Tina's shoulders, startling her, "I flew Tina! I actually flew! Papyrus caught me as I fell off his shoulder and I flew with magic! It was so cool! You should have seen it."

He fell into a thought full silence, altering Tina to the sudden mood shift. She looked up, concerned. Greeny seemed to be mulling over something.

She tugged on his shirt, bringing him out of whatever stilled his eager sharing session.

"Tina, can I have this picture, please?"

Tina hesitated. Paper was hard to come by for her. Not that paper was rare or even expensive; it just didn't exist for her size. Mama Cry had to cut the paper, which she did as much as she could, but most of it went towards the younger bitties' education and actives. She also didn't trust that devious grin of his.

Tina tore the sketch from her book, handing it to Greeny. He rarely asked and he did deserve to have a picture to call his own.

"Thank you", and then he was off, racing towards the bitty play-area's barrier.

"Papyrus! Papyrus!"

All three monsters turned and approached the barrier and the jumping-for-joy Greeny.

Mama Cry focused her black and red eyes on the little piece of paper bobbing in Greeny's hand, "Hello little one, what do you have there?"

Greeny pointed pass Mama Cry, to Sans who was lagging behind his brother.

"for me?"

Greeny nodded, offering the sketch.

Sans seemed hesitant to take the sketch as he lifted it from Greeny. Papyrus looked over his brother's shoulder.

"WHY, THAT'S US! AND IT'S A REALLY GOOD DRAWING!"

Papyrus offered his hand, which Greeny happily jumped onto, lifting him to his eye level.

"DID YOU DRAW THIS LITTLE HUMAN? GRANTED-", Papyrus posed, "-ANY DRAWING OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS A WORK OF ART."

Greeny shock his head, turning to point at Tina, who already saw what Greeny was up to by this point. Getting up, she turned and headed towards her room.

"Tina drew it. She's the adult bitty in the black shirt over there. She's very nice and cool and totally deserves to be adopted. She's super smart and a really good listener, even if she can't talk."

Tina quickly turned around, glaring at the traitorous Greeny. Only Sans was looking after her, the other two monsters were still talking with the Green Judas. She met Sans's gaze defiantly. Let him think what he will. She didn't fear monsters; not the grinning skeleton, not the monster who severed her vocal cords.

Sans looked back to the picture and Tina quickly left, entering her private apartment. No, adoption wasn't an option for broken bitties like her.

 

Next chapter is called: A good thing


	2. A good thing

Tina clung to the rails of the bitty balcony, watching Greeny interact with Papyrus for the fifth day in a row, in the longest two months of her life. Two months of watching Papyrus go through the hazing process, made longer the more days Greeny remained a possibility. Sometimes the short skeleton would turn up, watching her or his brother, but Tina hardly noticed if he was there or not, not with Papyrus showing this much interest in Greeny.

Every time a new monster came to the adoption centre, they were swarmed by all the bitties curious about the new monster. Eventually, those that bonded better than others remind with the monster as the others quickly lost interest. Every visit thinned the number of returning bitties till there was just one, who was almost always chosen by the monster for adoption. Mama Cry knew this well, ensure that no monster adopted unless they had come to the centre for at least 30 days.

It was a good thing, of course, that bitties were adopted. Tina even had a poster at the back of her door where she listed all the positives about bitty adoption. For example, although they were locked away for their own safety, they were also stifled, unable to grow and develop as people. Outside, they got a chance to mature and develop into people, with their adoptive monsters providing that family atmosphere that was sorely missed here. Monster, despite what happened to her, were overwhelming good caregivers and Mama Cry's adoption plan had an about 98% success rate. What happened to her was rare of rare, so while she personally would never consider adoption, she knew it was, statistically, safe for the children. It was sometime very hard to think about that objectively, which was why she had created this poster in the first place, listing objectively true facts. It normal helped, but not recently.

Greeny himself always looked so sad when he stopped visiting monsters, it was actually the few time she got to comfort him, and every time it happened she knew that he didn't belong here. Now, every time Greeny ran to Papyrus, Tine had to keep reminding herself of those moments. At first, she had been happy to see Greeny so happy, while a small part of her keep quiet about her belief that soon she would have to be comforting him over yet another failed hazing process. But days turned into weeks and here she sat. Papyrus down to two, and Greeny was one of the two.

Today, it was just Greeny and a little yellow-shirt girl bitty. The short grinning skeleton had come in today as well, as if he could feel what she could feel, that today would determine who went home with Papyrus.

"OKAY, READY?"

Both bitties gave Papyrus a nod. With a flail of his hand, both of their blindfolds were torn off with magic as they looked down at what was before them. In front of them were identical, miniature puzzles, handcrafted by Papyrus.

As far as Tina could tell, Greeny and the yellow-shirted girl weren't the smartest bitties in the adoption centre. There had to be a girl in a blue shirt that had easily solved all of Papyrus previous puzzles, but she had struggled to find them fun, eventually growing bored by the lack of challenge and mundane conversation Papyrus had provided while discussing how he had built them. Greeny and a few others, however, had hung onto his every word, asking if they could have a go at building their own puzzles. The very next visit, Papyrus brought in arms full of supplies to build miniature puzzles. Greeny's eyes had lit up and conversations with the boy from then on centred around what new things Papyrus brought in, what new cool things he was doing or showing the bitties.

The two bitties quickly jumped on the puzzles, eager to have a go. Tina didn't know the girl well enough, but she appeared to be far more competitive than Greeny, who was simply happy for the new object. She knew that look, his face twisting with concentration; he was trying to figure out how it was built, rather than the actual solving aspect of it.

Both children seemed to be really into the puzzle, while Papyrus hovered over them, his hands held up in eager anticipation. Greeny continued to look over the puzzle, while the girl got steadily more frustrated.

Suddenly, the girl screamed "I can't do it!", before throwing herself onto the floor.

Greeny quickly abandoned his puzzle, rushing over to the girl who sobbed into her arms. He gently wrapped her in a warm embrace, telling her that it was all okay.

"No it isn't! It's not fair that I won't get adopted just because I can't do puzzles!"

Papyrus crouched over the pair, concerned.

"LITTLE ONE, IT'S OKAY THAT YOU'RE NOT AS GREAT AT SOLVING PUZZLES AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS. YOU'RE GREAT AT MANY OTHER THINGS!"

"But I wanted to be adopted by you an-and *sob* you won't w-want me now!"

His expression fell, "BUT YOU SHOULD BE ADOPTED FOR WHAT YOU CAN DO, NOT WHAT YOU CAN'T DO. I WOULDN'T ADOPT YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU AREN'T GOOD A PUZZLES!"

"But I'm a good puzzle solver! I-I'm just having a-a really b-bad day!", she wailed.

There was a pause while Greeny continued to pat the girls back. Papyrus threw a concerned look over at Sans, who shrugged. He turned back to look down at the two bitties.

"DID YOU REALLY WANT TO BE ADOPTED BY ME?" Papyrus asked.

The girl eagerly nodded, "I just want to be adopted already."

"BY ANYONE?"

She shrugged, hiding her face in her arms, "You seem nice enough. Why shouldn't I want you to adopt me?"

Greeny huffed, "You should be picking someone who makes you laugh every day, someone who you're always happy to see all the time. Don't just pick any random monster! You deserve better than that!"

"I'm always happy to see Papyrus" the girl mumbled.

"Why?" Greeny insisted.

"Because he wants to adopt me."

"But that's not good enough! You should want to be adopted because it's them and no one else, not because you get to leave this place!"

He turned to beam up at Papyrus, "Even if I had to remain here, I would always feel this happy to see The Great Papyrus."

Papyrus beamed in return, before he moved his hand to cup the girl's back. "DON'T WORRY LITTLE ONE, THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS SURE THAT ONE DAY YOU WILL BE ADOPTED BY SOMEONE WHO WILL MARVEL AT ALL THE REALLY COOL STUFF THAT ONLY YOU CAN DO!"

"Really?" She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"ABSOLUTELY LITTLE ONE! ONE DAY, YOU WILL LEAVE IN THE ARMS OF SOMEONE WHO MAKES YOU SO HAPPY, YOU WON'T CARE WHERE YOU ARE, BE IT HERE OR AT A NEW HOME. THAT MONSTER IS GOING TO BE SO HAPPY TO HAVE YOU, THEY'RE GOING TO THINK YOU'RE THE COOLEST THING THAT EVER EXISTED!"

The girl wailed, throwing herself into Greeny's arms as Papyrus cupped them in both of his hands. Greeny looked up in gratitude at Papyrus, who returned it with the softest smile Tina had ever seen the boisterous skeleton ever wear.

Tina felt her soul cry and ache, the devastation she felt was a negative reflection of what was shared between Papyrus and Greeny. She knew it was over, there was nothing she could do now. Unable to take it any longer, she left for her room, particularly running to it.

Slamming the door, she stared at the poster, her eye barely seeing it listing all the whys this was a good thing. Desperate, she listed them all, saying every single one of them aloud and over again like a martyr, willing the logical part of her brain to silence the emotional heart that just wanted to keep Greeny here forever.

"Tina! Tina! I'm getting adopted! Papyrus is adopting me!!"

Steeling herself, she opened the door to see Greeny running towards her, his excitement evident even from this distance. Holding her arms open, she caught the boy as he jumped into her inviting embrace, laughing as she spun him around.

Lowing him to the ground, he gabbled about how Papyrus had offered to adopt him after they had taken care of the yellow-shirt girl, his fears that he would pick her over him. Tina smiled, nodding every so often, while her eyes watched Papyrus talking to Mama Cry over some paperwork while the short skeleton watched herself and Greeny. The short skeleton's smile seemed more stained than it had ever looked and Tina was struck with a fear as she forgot about what a Papyrus adoption meant.

There was no denying that Papyrus was mostly harmless, but he wasn't the only monster Greeny was about to live with. Something about that grinning skeletons alarmed her, a warning telling her that he was a hidden threat.

She grabbed two fists full of Greeny's hair, forcing his forehead to touch hers. He looked startled, betrayal and pain flashing in his eyes, but she ignored it as she rasped urgently "Protect yourself."

She stared into his eyes for a long moment, before she flung her arms around the boy, willing whatever power existed to protect him so he didn't have to.

It took awhile, but eventually Greeny returned the hug, hugging her as tightly as she held him. She could feel tears falling on her neck as his shoulders quietly shook with suppressed sobs. She patted his back, humming an old song he liked her humming, both of them knowing that they would never see each other after today and neither wanted to say that final goodbye.

She noticed that all the monsters were watching them now, quietly talking to each other words she couldn't hear and, quite frankly, she didn't care. Apparently, they were done with the paperwork and the time to say goodbye had arrived quicker than she had thought it would.

Breaking the hug, she looked into Greeny's watery eyes, wiping away the few stray tears that crept down his cheek. Offering a smile, she stood up and lead him towards the skeletons and Mama Cry.

Papyrus offered his hand, which Tina guided Greeny onto. She watched as Greeny was lifted to Papyrus's shoulder, his first steps tentatively and wobbly. His grin couldn't be any bigger, not even comparing it to the monster who literally had no lips to hide his equally big, happy smile.

Papyrus turned to Tina, bowing slightly, "GOODBYE ADULT BITTY. THANK YOU FOR TAKING GOOD CARE OF MY BITTY." Greeny started to cry softly at the mention of 'my bitty'.

Tina nodded, waving goodbye to the small group as they left the centre, Mama Cry walking them out. She saw Mama Cry offer her a sad smile on her short muzzle, the unspoken words of condolence passing between them as she turned to look at her behind the skeleton's backs. Soon, Greeny and the two skeletons left the building, their sight cut off by the doors she could never hope to get past.

~*~

If this was a good thing....then why did she feel this devastated?

 

Next chapter is called: The Grinning Skeleton


	3. The Grinning Skeleton

"Tina, there's a monster here to see you."

Tina raised herself off her bed to stare bleakly at the young, orange-shirt boy standing in her doorway.

"Me?" she rasped

The boy visibly flinched at the sound of her voice, but he remained where he was, "He asked for you by name."

Confused, Tina raised herself up. Which monsters knew her by name? Mama Cry, as far as she knew, was it, and it was an unspoken condition between them that she dissuades monsters from asking questions about her. She certainly didn't tell people her name.

Not bothering with her shoes, she followed the orange-shirt boy out of her private sleeping area to the bitty interaction area. Here, there were giant (actually regular sized, but perspective mattered here) benches and table that allowed monsters to sit with bitties, who sat or ran across the tables. It was a good place for one-to-one interactions. It was also a good place for a skeleton monster to sit, as that was who was waiting for her. To be specific, it was the brother of the one who adopted Greeny, the grinning one.

He waved when he caught sight of her, erasing any doubt that he was here for anyone else.

Needlessly, the orange-shirted boy pointed at the skeleton, "That's him."

He turned to leave, but Tina grabbed his arm. For a brief moment, she saw fear and panic in the boy's eyes before he had a chance to hide it.

She lowered her head to him, rasping into his ear, "I need you to speak for me."

The boy looked confused, "Why?"

Ignoring the question, she continued, "I'll draw you anything you like if you do it."

The boy gasped, "Even Batman?!"

She smiled at his enthusiasm, "I'll draw you as Batman, if you want. Deal?"

The boy's smile threatened to split his face as he nodded eagerly. He stuck out his hand, which she took, "Deal!"

Holding onto his hand, she led him towards the skeleton, who was looking curiously at their linked hands.

Sitting down in front of the skeleton, she pulled the boy into her lap, his back to her as they both started up at the monster. He shifted awkwardly in her lap, unsure where or who he should be looking at.

"Um-"

Tina bent and whispered something in the boy's ear, who repeated it word for word, "Tina said to tell you that I'm here to speak for her."

Sans nodded, if looking a bit confused, "i thought you couldn't speak?"

"My voice gets really sore with long conversations." The boy suddenly realised, turning to look at Tina, "Oh! Is that what that the green-shirted boy did for you?"

She nodded and the boy looked so pleased with himself.

Sans shrugged, "eh, no skin off my nose."

The boy giggled while Tina hid her smile behind his head.

Sans offered a pinkie phalange to Tina, "hi, i'm sans, sans the skeleton."

The boy shook it while her hands impulsively tightened around his waist, "hi Sans! I don't actually have a name, but you can call me Batman!"

Sans chuckled while Tina whispered into the boy's ear, "You're supposed to be translating!"

"batman?"

The boy threw a guilty look over his shoulder as Tina sighed. "You might as well tell him now."

The boy seemed reluctant to talk now, "Tina said she'd draw me as Batman if I did this for her. But I don't think I was supposed to tell you that."

Sans smile grew, "oh, I know all about her drawings. she actually gave me a really good one a couple of months ago."

Tina glared at Sans, who continued to grin while the boy gasped, "really? What was it?"

Sans looked fondly at her, his smile softening, "it was a picture of the day me and my brother first came here."

Tina blushed, Sans's smile made her feel like she had done something far grander than just scribble on the sheet. The boy apparently agreed with her, as he huffed "That doesn't sound as good as Batman."

Sans chuckled, leaning his head on a hand, "you'd be surprised."

Rolling her eyes, she whispered into the boy's ear, "Ask him why he's here, and don't get sidetracked again."

The boy flinched, but spoke up, "Why are you here?"

Sans smile relaxed, "i saw you yesterday, saying goodbye to the green kid Papyrus adopted.

"And?"

Sans shrugged, "seemed to me like you might want some information on how the kid is settling in?"

Tina hesitated. She did want to know, desperately even, but why would he bother coming all the way down her, to tell her that? What was she to him other than another bitty he hadn't interacted with?

Realising she had many questions and none of them would get answered by starring at him, she asked, "So, how has he been?"

Sans leaned back, "really good, actually. ran over every surface yesterday, and he wouldn't stop saying 'thank you' for all the new toys and clothes my brother got him. actually" Sans paused, considering, "it's really good to see my brother get along with someone so quickly. he usually has a harder time at it than I do."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"i thought you'd want to know?"

"but why bother?"

Sans tilted his head, watching her intently, "i've been watching you interact with the kid a couple of times now and I can tell, you really care about the kid." She glared at him as he continued, "i've also been watching you interact with everyone else around you, with the other children." He chuckled, "and I reckon you care about all the kids here, not just him."

She looked away while the boy in her lap muttered, "Where's he getting that from?"

Sans lowered his head, till he was on her eye level, "you have a really kind soul."

"You're wrong."

"i don't think I am. watching you say your goodbyes yesterday kinda proved it to me. it made me think about adopting you myself."

Apparently, on impulse, the boy spluttered, "You want to adopt Tina?"

"certainly thinking about it."

"Why?"

Tina hadn't asked that question, the boy had random spluttered it out again, but she wanted to know the answer too.

He shrugged, winking at Tina, "i've got a good feeling about you kid, i can tell these kinds of things."

There was a brief moment where Tina and the boy stared up in disbelief at Sans's grinning skull.

Tina whispered into the boy's ear, "Tell him why you're scared of me."

The boy turned to look at her, fear in his eyes. She nodded, giving him a stern look. He gulped and turned to look back at Sans.

"She, um, she wants me to tell you why some of the bitties are afraid of her."

He puffed out his chest, "but not me! I'm not afraid of anything."

Sans chuckled, but there was a distinct lack of humour in the chuckle.

"i'm listening"

The boy moved nervously in her arms and she could tell that he really didn't want to talk about this. Giving a quick squeeze, he blurted out, "She's dangerous!"

He quickly amended, "No-not that she's ever hurt anyone here, but there's something about her that makes the other bitties scared to talk to her. Like she could hurt them? I don't know how to explain it. It's kinda like seeing a big dog. You just know you shouldn't go anywhere near it or you might get hurt."

During his entire explanation, Tina stared directly into Sans's eye lights, unblinking. If this was a satisfying a curiosity, then it could stop right here, and if this was a legit interest, then it was better to nip that right in the butt before it became something much more annoying.

Sans didn't say anything for a while, returning Tina's intense stare, before he smiled and nodded, "dangerous perhaps, but certainly not a threat to anyone."

He winked, ignoring her scowl, "don't worry kid, i've hung around dogs before and let me tell you, if you think they're dangerous to you, what do you think they'd do to a guy like me?" He dangled a bony arm, "i'm literal a walking meal for those guys! gotta watch my back or else I might find someone chewing on it."

The boy laughed heartedly while Tina struggled to hide her face in his hair and to keep from giggling at the stupid mental imagery of Sans running down a street followed by a pack of dogs.

Sans pushed on, a huge shit-eating grin on his face, " _tibia_ honest, i have not _guts_ when it comes to dogs. let me _patella_ , and this ain't no _fibula_ , i always _skull_ -k when it happens and that's just the _radius_ of my problems. why are you laughing? do you find my pain _humerus_? you have a very _marrow_ minds kids. don't make me give you a _sternum_ look."

They burst out laughing, but it was Tina's laughter that stilled the other two. Her rasping, wheezing coughing noises sounded painful and, sure enough, she started hacking. Gently pushing the boy off her lap, she turned her head away from her two observers, her hand brought to the mouth in an effort to hide the blood she could already taste.

"Tina? Are-are you okay?" When she didn't reply, the boy took off, running towards the wall that was closest to the adoption centre's front desk, screaming "MAMA CRY, HELP!"

Sans looked between the fleeing kid to her struggling to breathe, blood oozing between her fingers. Cautiously, he placed a single phalange on her back, tapping her in an effort to help her get over her coughing fits.

"geez, i'm sorry kid. hold on, mama cry is coming over."

"Tina!"

Tina heard Mama Cry before a thimble filled with Sea Tea was pushed into her hands. Willing herself still, she tipped the healing liquid into her mouth but coughed at the worst time possible, spraying the ground with flecks of spit, blood and tea.

Mama Cry refilled the container while Tina continued to hack. Offering the thimble again, she asked, "Do I need to get the Container?"

Tina shook her head, trying again with the thimble. She hated the Container and desperately wished to avoid it if she could. She knew, however, if she didn't manage this mouthful she wouldn't get a choice.

Taking a big mouth full, Tina pressed her hand to her mouth while she struggled to swallow. A fuzzy paw rubbed her back, soft whispers of encouragement and reassurance covering the sounds of her struggles. Pushing back the coughs, she forced herself to swallow. The relief was instantaneous and found she could breathe again with only a few weak coughs. Taking another mouthful further healed her.

Looking around her, she saw Mama Cry looking at her with emphatic concern, the boy hovering on her shoulder and looking scared, with Sans off to the side, looking dejected.

"i'm sorry, i didn't mean any harm" Sans muttered.

Taking another mouth full, she swallowed before answering, "It's okay, this happens often enough."

Mama Cry refilled the thimble, before turning to Sans, "I think that's enough excitement for today. It's about time you left Sans."

Sans's shoulder shagged, but he nodded.

"You can always return tomorrow though."

He didn't respond to the invitation, instead, moving quietly towards the exit while Mama Cry walked him out.

Tina continued to sip her tea, not particularly enjoying the taste. She noticed when Mama Cry returned and deposited the orange-shirted boy back on the table.

"Off you go deary, go play. I just need to talk to Tina in private for a while."

The orange-boy look like he wanted to say something, but Tina beat him to it, "I'll still draw the picture for you, just a bit later, okay?"

He shook his head, "Thank you, but um...." He blurted out, "are you going to die?"

He looked close to tears, which prompted Mama Cry to offer her paw. He immediately clung to it, crying.

"shhhh. There, there little one. I promise, Tina is perfectly fine. She just needed her medicine." Mama Cry cooed. She looked at Tina, "Isn't that right Tina?"

She nodded, taking a big gulp of the tea, grinning, "All better now. Thank you for getting Mama Cry."

Mama Cry smiled at the boy, who looked confused, "Yes, you did the right thing by coming to me. You should be really proud of yourself!"

He pushed himself away from her paw, whipping his eyes, "I just did what you told us to do."

"And you did an excellent job too!" She pushed him towards the play area, "Now off you go and play."

The boy took a finale look at Tina, who smiled and waved, before jumping off and running towards the play area. Once he was safely gone, Mama Cry sank onto a bench, her kind smile falling into one of guilty.

She turned to look at her, "Tina, I want to apologise. I thought I dissuaded him from you the last time he was here." Tina must have looked confused, because she continued, "Sans asked a lot of questions and, well, you know my policy about that."

The policy was to shut down all questions with stern warnings to leaving Tina alone. It was something that made Tina really grateful for her lot in life and where she had ended up. Others might have been tempted to push her towards adoption, but not Mama Cry.

She continued, "Instead, I fear I may have spiked his interest."

"How?"

She lent back, looking at the front entrance, "You don't know Sans, but every monster knows that boy likes a good mystery, practically if it's personal. The more you don't want him to know something, the deeper he'll dig. The worse thing about it all is that he's really good at figuring people out, with very little impute." She looked back at Tina, "I should have been upfront about your history. Then perhaps he would have been satisfied and wouldn't have come here today."

She sighed, "But he said he wanted to tell you all about the green boy who you use to hang out with, and I thought you might be glad to hear how well he's doing."

Tina patted her clasped paws, offering what she hopes was a reassuring smile. She weakly returned the smile before her face fell again. "I don't think he'll be returning."

There was a pause while Mama Cry watched Tina slowly drink her tea. Then she asked, "You purposely laughed harder than you normally would have, didn't you? To make yourself cough blood?"

She thought about denying it, but Mama Cry knew her limits almost as well as she did, and Tina knew what she had been doing.

"He wanted to know more? I gave him what he wanted."

Mama Cry sighed heavily, returning to look at the front door while Tina finished off the last of her tea. Taking the now empty thimble for her, Mama Cry said, "You could have just asked him to leave you alone, or asked me to get rid of him."

Tina shrugged. "This made my point clearer than any verbal warning could have."

"Just don't hurt yourself to make that point next time, okay?"

She waited for Tina to agree. When she didn't get a reply, she stood up with a sigh and let herself out.

Tina returned to her room, happy to know that wherever Greeny was, he, at least, seemed to be happy. She was grateful for the information, but she was sure that would be the last she saw of Sans the Skeleton.

 

Next chapter is called: A risk


	4. A risk

Tina's throat was sorer than it had been the day before, but that was to be expected. She didn't often cough up blood, but when she did, Sea Tea did little to ease the days of pain she was in for. Still, it had been important to make sure Sans got the message and kept his distance.

So it came as a surprise when another child knocked on her door for a second time in two days (which in itself was rare), saying that a monster was asking for her...by name.

For a long moment, Tina stared at the blue-shirted girl, standing shyly by her door frame, not quite believing her ears.

"Who's here?"

"S-Sans the s-skeleton."

There was another pause.

"C-can I go now?"

With a groan, Tina pushed herself up from her lounging position on her bed. Making her way to the girl, she lowered herself till she was on eye-level with the flinching child.

"Show me...please."

She nodded, practically fleeing from the room. With a sigh, Tina followed.

Sure enough, there sat Sans the skeleton, grinning as broadly as he has been the other day. Only today he sat with a canister by his side.

"hiya tina. mind talking to me again today?"

She did, but she was more curious about why he was here.

Grabbing the back of the blue girl's shirt, Tina whispered into the frightened girl's ear, "I need you to speak for me, please."

The girl turned to her slowly, hesitant to look in her eyes. After a moment, she nodded and Tina lead the girl over to Sans.

Like yesterday, Tina sat and pulled the girl into her lap, both of them facing Sans.

"Why are you back?"

Whispering into the girl's ear, Tina's question was repeated word for word by the quite, shy girl, making the effect of her stern question somewhat lost by the girl's delivery.

Sans chuckled, "and a 'hello' to you too."

Tina looked away, "Yesterday, you left right after seeing me cough blood." She met his eye, "I expected you to stay away."

Sans’s grinned pulled down at the corners, “kid...tina. i wanted to apologize for yesterday.” He looked at the girl in her lap, “it’s easy to forget that you don’t just have a kid sitting there for fun.”

He reached over to the canister, pulling a thimble out from behind it. He offered this to Tina, who took it from him slowly. Looking inside revealed that it was just filled with Sea Tea.

She looked at him, surprised.

He smiled, “i figured that as long as we’re talking, it wouldn’t hurt to have a bottle of this stuff handy, just in case.”

Looking back at the drink, she asked, “And just how long do you plan to talk to me?”

“however long you’ll allow me to.”

There was a long pause.

“You’d be better off talking to one of the children. The ones who actually want to be adopted.”

Sans laughed, “kid, i’m a pretty friendly guy, but i’m very selective when it comes to who i’m friends with.”

He lowered his head, “i could spend months here, interacting with all the children and still want to adopt just you.”

She glared at him, “You can’t know that till you’ve tried.”

He leaned back, “true”, then he smiled back at her, “but until you say otherwise, i plan to come back as often as i can, to talk to you.”

Tina stared back, flabbergasted at this bold statement. What the hell had she done that deserved this sort of attention?

She stood up slowly, allowing the girl to stand first. With a panicked look, she looked at Tina in alarm, “Did I say something wrong?”

Tina shook her head, lowering herself so she could whisper in the girl’s ear, “No, you did just fine. You can go now, I’ll be okay.”

The girl looked at her, “Are you sure?”

Tina nodded.

“You pinkie swear?”

Tina grinned, holding out her pinkie.

The girl hooked her pinkie around hers and they shook, sealing the deal. She quickly left, casting a final look at Tina, before jumping off the table.

Tina turned her attention to Sans, who had watched the whole exchange.

“I’m sure that you’ve noticed my voice?” She rasped.

Her throat really hurt, but it was vital this point be made, and this wasn't something any child should ever hear, let alone repeat. Still, she knew she wouldn’t hear the end of it from Mama Cry if she coughed up blood again, so she took a long drink from the thimble.

Sans nodded, his eyes calculating.

Tina took a deep breath, “I came from a bitty fighting arena, and my last owner cut my throat when he didn’t like what I had to say to him.”

She grinned bitterly, her few moments of defiance were her only pleasant memories from her past.

Sans stared back at her in shock and…anger? Angry on her behalf or angry at her actions, she didn’t know and she didn’t ask.

She looked over at the bitty play area, seeing all the children playing. She smiled fondly as she remembered all the times the children forgot their fear and played with her.

“I have a good life now.” She looked back at him, “and I would be stupid to risk it for an unknown.”

Sans returned her intense stare. Eventually, he smiled, “it is a pretty good life you’ve got here. i just wonder-“ he lowered his head, “if you’re entirely happy here.”

She shrugged, “It could easily be worse. Either way, I’m not risking it and you should really look to the children if you want to adopt.”

His grin grew sad, “you don’t believe me when i tell you that, no matter who i see or how long i’m here for, i won’t want to adopt anyone else.”

She shrugged. Of course she believed that; he hadn't even entered the bitty interaction area once.

He stood up, “guess i’ll have to prove it to you.” He chuckled, “it’s a good thing then that i’m a pretty patient monster.”

~*~

Sans indeed keep his word, turning up every day, saying hello to her and asking if she wanted to adopted today. Every day, she reluctantly greeted him, declined the adoption request and watched as he made his way off to the bitty interaction area.

On day one, Sans was swarmed by the curious bitties, who were made more curious by the fact that they had all seen him talking to the scary adult bitty. From her perch by the bedrooms, Tina watched as Sans answered questions about himself and (strangely but not surprising) herself. He always answered those questions with a laugh, making her seem kind and compassionate with his answers. After he left, a few of the braver children actually came over to her, asking questions about Sans. The most repeated questions being "was Sans her monster?" She smiled as she shook her head, reassuring the children that he was here looking to adopt one of them and that she wasn't interested, even if he wanted to adopt her.

By the second day, the questions about her somewhat lessened as the children focused on learning about Sans. They all laughed at his puns, jokes and pranks, even as he winked at her whenever he just happened to hear her laughing at one of his stupid jokes.

Days turned into weeks and still, Sans was as popular with the bitties as ever. Everyone seemed to like him. Not that Tina was surprised. He played games with them, lifting them with magic till he was scolded by Mama Cry to a choir of "Awwww"s, had naps in the play-pen with bitties sleeping in his pockets and continued to tell bad jokes and puns.

Tina could often be found smiling as she watched Sans interact with the children, hope blooming in her heart that Greeny must be having the time of his life if Sans was anything like this at home. Between this and the energetic Papyrus, she'd be surprised if his face hadn't frozen into a permanent smile.

The strange thing was, none of the children bitties were getting that clinging to him. What normally happened was the children who were interested kept seeing the monster while the others stopped doing that. As the group thinned, those remained became possessive, fighting one and another for the monster's sole attention. Often, these children developed the most feelings for the monsters, making it quite a chore for Mama Cry to calm them down if they stopped seeing the monster for whatever reason.

With Sans, that wasn't happening. Sure, they were eager to see him, happy he was there, but none of them fought each other for his attention. In fact, almost all of them were seeing other monsters, abounding Sans if the monster they were interested in just happened to come in. It was like, no matter how friendly and how well they got along, they just couldn't form that bond.

Tina's own interactions with Sans developed and changed too, she relished upon looking back on the weeks since the coughing incident. She found herself moving closer and closer to where he set himself up, close enough to hear everything but just far enough that she didn't intrude. When one of the conversations had turned to favourite lollies, she impulsively admitted that peppermint chocolate was her favourite, blushing when Sans turned to look at her. The next day, and every day since, he offered her a piece of peppermint chocolate, smiling as he said he just happened to have some and admitting that he "had developed a fondness for it now.".

When a little purple boy was telling him about Mama Cry's recent excursion to the park, Sans had turned to her and asked if she had enjoyed herself. Without thinking about it, she admitted that she had stayed behind with the children who didn't want to go or those who were sad that their monsters hadn't been able to be a part of the excursion. The next day, Mama Cry asked if she wanted a private excursion with her to the park. When Tina had asked who would watch the children, Sans magical appeared, winking. Later, when she stood on the park bench on that same day, bathed in sunlight, she thought about how long it had been since she felt sunlight on her skin without a window or walls surrounding her....and how she might owe Sans a thank you for this. She also heard the distinct sound of a picture being taken when her eyes had been closed, but Mama Cry denied any wrongdoings.

After each visit, late at night, Tina could be found in her bed, thinking about Sans. These thoughts too, developed and changed. At first, she thought about his motivations, why her. Then she thought about who, out of the bitty children, would be a good match for him and who she believed would most likely to bound with the grinning skeleton. Later, she wondered if he had been correct and the hazing process wouldn't work for him.

She found herself oddly happy at that thought.

 

 Next chapter is called: Drowning


	5. Drowning

Tina sat by Sans’s elbow today, helping him serve appropriately sized hotdogs to the bitty children. All he had to do was show the faces on his patented hotcat and hotdogs and suddenly every child just appeared out of nowhere, each clambering for taste. Sans had then turned to her, stage talking about how if only there was someone close by who could help him feed these poor hunger children.

So, here she sat, cutting the slices of hotdogs and bread that Sans had shortened into even smaller pieces. The long line of hunger children had shortened considerably by now and Tina actually welcomes the thimble filled with Sea Tea that Sans had handed her.

“Thank you Tina”, said the shy green girl, who had once been unable to look her in the eyes as she handed off her Sea Tea.

Tina watched the retreating girl’s back in amazement. The transformation from before Greeny left to now was staggering and, frankly, unbelievable.

 _‘Although,’_ she thought, looking up at Sans packing away his wears now that the last child had been served, _‘it’s more apt to say the difference came when Sans entered my life.’_

Adoption or no, the changes that Sans had made for these children, practically how they saw her were permanent. She would be grateful for that…she was grateful.

“Sans.” she called up to him.

Surprised, Sans turned away from his portable cooler and lowered his head near her, “what’s up tina?”

When they first met, any monster who placed themselves that close to her personal space would have had the nearest thing thrown at them, or got the pleasure of seeing her retreating back. Now she only flinched a little, quickly forgetting that she did so as she smiled up Sans, “Thank you… for everything.”

He chuckled, moving away with a slight blush, “they're only dogs kid. no need to get sentimental on me.”

They both knew she hadn’t been talking about the food.

"Tina!"

Tina and Sans turned to watch a light blue-shirt boy running towards them. He beamed at her as he approached, "Tina! Come play tag with us, please?"

Shocked, she looked past him to see others approaching, hope in their eyes. Many of them were still not quite meeting her eyes, but never less, they did approach her.

Tina shook her head, smiling at the boy gently.

Sans nudged her forward with the tip of his phalanges, "go on kid. have some fun."

Tina continued to shake her head, pushing against the force of the nudge.

Sans grinned, "ah well, you've forced this on yourself." Cupping a hand and pointing at Tina, he bellowed, "dog pile!"

Tina turned her glare from Sans to see the children slowly approaching her, their hands outstretched.

"DOGPILE!!!" They cried as one, now running towards her.

Tina bolted, away from the traitorous grinning Sans. As she dived off the nearest ledge, seeking to escape the children by running away from the table, she was caught, lifted and placed back on the table by a blue glow. Scowling, she threw Sans a look, who shrugged, the picture of mock innocence.

"Ommpff!"

She was tackled hard. Dazed, she watched helplessly as child after child jumped on her. Someone's hand was moving around on the bare base of one of her feet, causing Tina to giggle at the sensation.

The children on her stilled.

"She's ticklish?" asked a child she couldn't see.

Another replied, "She's ticklish! Get her!"

"Noo!" Tina giggled, before every child above her began to tickle her.

She howled, tears in her eyes and snorts escaping her dignity. The children she could see only laughed and smiled harder in response.

Quickly, her laughter turned into coughing while laughing.

"Stop!" She spluttered, a combination of giggles and coughing barely made her cohesive.

The children ignored her and continued to tickle.

~*~

Sans was laughing in delight, till the sounds of bitty children screaming stopped him dead. Looking over, he saw children jumping off and running anyway from the dog pile that was Tina, covered in flecks of blood.

"tina!"

He rushed over, pushing aside the few children who stood hovering over the bloody form of Tina hunched over, with blood frothing out of her mouth and oozing out her nose, coughing harder than he had ever heard her before.

Picking her up, he cried out in terror, "mama cry! help!!"

She came rushing out of her office, her eyes widely searching for danger with aggressive magic pooling in her hands.

"What is it?!" she cried. Then she saw Tina in his bloodstained hands.

She rushed forward and grabbed Tina from his hands, whisking her away from him and the scared bitties.

“Sans, watch them!”

He ignored her, following her as she made her way to the fridge.

Retching it open, Mama Cry reached in and grabbed a large, clear bottle filled with green liquid. She pushed past him, heading straight for her office. She threw a glance at him as she passed, “I’m serious! You won’t want to see this.”

She closed the door behind her, but didn’t bother to shut it all the way.

Pushing open the door, Sans stood in the doorway as Mama Cry placed the bottle on her desk, uncapping the lid with on hand while Tina continued to choke on her own blood.

“whatever you need to do, do it now!” he growled, closing the door behind him.

Throwing a glance at him over her shoulder, Mama Cry looked back at Tina with a sigh.

Picking up and holding the bottle’s lid in one hand, she dumped Tina into the bottle with the other, head first. While Tina floundered in the water, trying to figure out which way was up and the water overflowed with her added weight, Mama Cry screwed the cap firmly in place, sealing Tina in.

“what are you doing?!” Sans roared, his magic flowing freely from his eye.

Mama Cry picked up the bottle, holding it to her chest as Tina banged on the glass, desperation and fear evident on her face, “Sans! Listen to me. She can’t drown in Sea Tea!”

“look at her!”

Mama Cry nodded, gravely, “Right now, she feels like she’s drowning and her body’s instincts always kick in hard when this happens.”

Sans looked at the whole scene before him, to Tina’s struggles to breathe and her terror, to Mama Cry’s calm, if sadden, demeanour. He felt sickened to the core.

He asked, in a quivering voice, “explain yourself, right now.”

Mama Cry sighed again, attempting to place the bottle behind her and way from Sans’s view.

“don’t!” he kept his eyes on Tina and her desperate attempts for air.

Nodding gravely, she returned the bottle to her chest, using both hands to keep it secure and safe.

“Bitties can’t drown in Sea Tea, but it feels like they’re drowning to them. Right now, it’s entering her lungs, healing her.” She looked sadly at the bottle, “you'll notice that her blood has stained the tea’s colour?”

Sans looked around Tian, noting that the water around her face was closer to orange than green, unlike the green tea at the bottom.

Mama Cry continued, “We have to wait for the water around her head to clear.”

There was silence, both monsters aware of the continued thrashing of a person drowning.

"how long does this take?" Sans asked quietly.

"Too long."

There was even more silence.

"And things were going so well" Mama Cry whispered, wiping away a few silent tears.

Sans looked at her, but she shook her head and placed the bottle back on the bench.

"I need to go back and look after the children."

She took one last look back to Tina, before leaving Sans to create a memory he would remember till his dying days.

~*~

Every few minutes, Mama Cry would return to check the water. Sans would look away from Tina, hope in his eyes, only for her to shake her head sadly at him. Only after had she managed to clean and calm all the bitty children did she return to find the water clear enough to take Tina out.

Lifting the bottle away from the table and Sans's sitting place, Mama Cry moved out of her office and towards the kitchen, Sans right behind her.

She looked sadly at Sans, her hands hovering over the bottle's lid, posed to tip out the water and Tina into the sink, "Sans, I have to warn you, this is always an emotional and traumatic experience for Tina. She may-"

"i don't care about that! let her out already...please."

Nodding, Mama Cry quickly uncapped the lid, Tina and the Sea Tea draining into the sink.

~*~

Tina felt the water draining around and away from her, dragging her towards the outside air. She landed on the cold, metal surface of the kitchen sink, her arms and legs shook as she pushed herself to her hands and knees. She immediately threw-up this way, her lungs and stomach emptying the tea that had filled every available space inside her body. Tea was coming out of her mouth and nose, even as she cried in pain and relief. With a gasp, she breathed in, only to throw-up again as she managed to push the tea back down her oesophagus, further choking her. Her whole body was numb, shivering and cold to the touch, the Sea Tea having drained away all her warmth.

She was vaguely aware of a face cloth on her and gentle packs on her back, but all she could feel was her own misery.

_'Nothing ever fucking changes! I was stupid to think it ever would!!'_

The looks on the children's faces, their laughter turning into screams as she coughed blood into their hands, their faces...

Terrified children covered in blood.

To think, she had almost forgotten what that looked like.

"tina?"

She didn't bother to look at Sans, his voice somewhere above her.

"Give her some time Sans, it takes her awhile to get all the tea out."

Grateful towards Mama Cry, Tina lowered her body till she pressed her forehead to the sink's surface. There was a strange, moaning noise echoing around the sink now. The moment she realised the noise was coming from her, she broke. Tears streamed down her face as she howled her misery, grief and pain into the unfeeling metal.

"tina....it's okay. please. i promise it's-"

"Leave me alone!" she screamed.

She stood up, throwing off the towel and Sans's gentle hand, to look up at his hurt expression, tears still flowing from her eyes.

She clenched her fists, "I don't want to be adopted! Never again!!!"

Yelling further aggravated the tea still in her lungs and her body quickly threw-up again, bringing Tina to her knees once more. 

Hunched over, she whispered through more tears and bile, "Get away from me Sans." She tucked herself a small ball of anguish, "Don't come back....please."

 

Next chapter is called: Am I missed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you're happen to be reading this and thinking 'but they said they'd update once a month and I find out there's two chapters now?', I still plan on updating on the first Saturday of each month. It's just, if I get the time, I can do that twice. Basically, if it's a Sunday in the middle of the month and there isn't an update, then I missed the chance and I'll keep it for later (keeping to Saturday makes it easier for me...hope you can understand that=)
> 
> Having said that, X-Mas/Giftmas is here! I most likely won't be updating because none of my stories are ready for Giftmas and it feels weird typing when I'm staring at tinsel. Also, my B-day's happens in early January and I want to binge play some games I've been putting off =P
> 
> Regardless, whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful time off in the company of your loved loves.
> 
> See you in January!
> 
> Oh, and here's something that you all know, but should be said often; you guys rock! I LIVE for the feedback/nice things you say and all that stuff!!!! It makes me 'over the moon-happy' to read and reread everything! You guys are my fuel, my inspiration to keep trying and to, perhaps, believe in myself...for once.
> 
> Words can't really convey how much I appreciate all the comments.


	6. Am I missed?

Tina didn't leave her room for over a whole week. Every day, during every meal, Mama Cry would personally bring her a meal, pleading for her to come out. Tina never replied to the pleas and ate very little of what she brought.

She didn't ask about Sans and Mama Cry didn't bring him up; even the children had reverted to back how they had been before Sans, back to treating her like the dog that would bite them if they came too close.

Eventually, life would return to how it had been before him, back to her watching from the sidelines and doing what she could to help Mama Cry with the bitty children. Back to feeling useless as there was little she could do without causing the children to panic every time she approached them.

Eventually, her night terrors would stop and the old feelings of numbness would come back, freeing her from this old misery she thought she had buried.

“Tina?”

Slowly, Tina raised her head from her pillow, looking towards her door. The door was still locked, part of the reason her sleeping quarters were private in the first place; a precision against her and her night terrors.

“Tina, it’s me. Please open up.”

She knew who that voice belonged to, but surely he was with Papyrus, safe and miles away from her.

Fearing the illusion that waited for her, she slowly rose from her bed, making her way to her door. Unlocking it, she pulled back the door to see a worried Greeny standing before her.

Before she could tell this illusion to go, he flung himself around her, hugging her tightly. Startled, she absently patted his head, the familiar motion automatically happening from old habit.

“Tina, are you okay?”

She looked down to see him looking up at her, he gaze searching. Shrugging, she looked up and caught sight of Mama Cry and Papyrus talking to each other, watching her and Greeny.

If this was real, she had a few questions.

“What are you doing here?”

Greeny let her go and walked into her room. Looking back at the monsters, she saw Mama Cry give her a small nod while Papyrus smiled. Bemused, she closed the door behind her.

Greeny was bouncing on her bed and she took this moment to take in his appearance. His clothes were better made, more personalised than the old, green shirt he had once worn. He looked happy too. Even his worried face failed to hide how fuller his cheeks were, how more natural his smile had become.

He took in her appearance too, his face falling as whatever state locking herself in her room for over a week had done to her image.

“I came to see you, Tina.”

She folded her arms, levelling a glare at him that he knew meant she wasn’t impressed with that answer.

He looked away, “Things have been really bad at home.” He met her question look, “Sans isn’t doing too good and Papyrus is worried.”

She unfolded her arms, looking away.

“What happened Tina?” Greeny was in front of her now, trying to meet her eye, “One day, Sans was talking about how much fun he was having with you and the next he’s hiding out in his room.” He gestured around her room, “Looks like you’ve been doing the same.”

When she didn’t answer, he continued, “He won’t talk, he’s not eating well, he’s stopped making puns. Papyrus-“ he looked towards the door, “I’ve never seen him this upset. I’m-I’m scared.” She quickly looked up, seeing him on the verge of tears, “Tina, please tell me what I can do to make all this better. I just want everyone happy again.”

She hugged him, drawing him to her. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, the start of tears wetting her shirt.

She cooed softly, stroking his hair, “It’ll be okay. There’s nothing you can do Greeny, we just have to wait.”

"B-but why? Wh-what happened?”

She shushed him and continued to stroke his hair.

Eventually, he settled and his breathing slowed. With a shuddering sigh, he pushed himself away from her, looking at her with red eyes.

“Tina, please tell me what h-happened.”

She looked away, her resolve crumbling, “I-I coughed blood on the children.”

“Is that all? Everyone knows you’ve got a sore throat. I’m sure they’ll forgive you.”

She didn’t answer. How could she explain to him that she had really scared them, that they all thought she was going to die…or that their blood splattered faces had brought up old memories?

Greeny continued, “Please see Sans. I know that he misses you.”

She shook her head, confident that whatever guilt Sans was feeling would pass when he realised it wasn’t his fault, and that his mood would eventually improve. After all, how could she blame him when he had at least tried to make her feel normal, like she wasn’t broken? It hadn’t worked, of course, but she didn’t blame him for that either.

Greeny, meanwhile, had been thinking. “If he won’t come here, then you should go see him!”

She looked at him, a placating smile on her lips.

He rushed forward, “No really! You should come and see him.  That way, you can see him for yourself!”

When she didn’t jump on the idea, he asked, “Didn’t you like hanging out with Sans? He thought you might of.”

She had enjoyed it, but what was she to him but a curiosity, a way to pass time. Surely, Greeny was mistaken by how hard he was taking it.

“Sans will be fine” she rasped.

Greeny huffed, “No he won’t! You don’t know how much he’s changed since he met you.”

She continued to smile, causing him to get angry with her.

“You want proof? Fine!” He exited her room, closing the door behind him.

Sighing, she sat down on her bed, wondering what he was planning. She didn’t have the energy to follow him, to pretend she didn’t notice how the other children stopped playing when they saw her. She had thought she’d be happy to see Greeny again, but now she just wanted to be left alone.

“Here.”

A bag was dumped at her feet, about half the length of her bed. She recognised it as one of the carrying bags Mama Cry used to pack bitty lunches for excursions.

Looking up, she saw Greeny grinning at her. He gestured to the bag, “We can sneak you out in this bag. You hid in it and I’ll prove that Sans misses you.”

“And how do I get back?”

“I can ask Papyrus to return tomorrow.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “I, um, I actually asked him if he could take me in today to see you.” He looked away, sad “I had to try something.”

Tina looked back to the bag. The plan had so many things that could go wrong.

On the other hand, from the moment Greeny mentioned that Sans might feel just the barest sliver of regret she had been feeling since she yelled at him… she needed to know.

“You have to promise that Sans and Papyrus won’t know that I’m there and that you can get me back here tomorrow.”

Greeny grinned, “I swear on my life!”

She grimaced at imagery.

Greeny looked at her in eager anticipation, “Does that mean you’ll come with me?”

She nodded.

Worst case scenario, she was back on the streets, fending for herself again. If she made sure she wasn’t captured again, things might actually turn out okay for her.

After all, what was left for her here?

~*~

She had to remind herself that Greeny, still a child, could easily carry her. All bitties were stronger than they would have been normal size, despite the added weight of her and a few necessary items she had alongside with her. However, the sensation of being in a bag that he easily lifted and carried out to Papyrus wasn’t something she could see herself getting used to.

“I’m ready to go Papyrus.”

Through the bag, Tina could just barely see the outside world. Not that she could see either Mama Cry or Papyrus’s responses from her backwards position at Greeny’s back

“HOW DID IT GO?” Papyrus asked eagerly.

“Not good, but I think we should come back tomorrow. I think it’ll be different.”

How could no one else tell he was up to no good?

Papyrus sighed, “IF YOU THINK SO.”

“You have my number Papyrus. If things get really bad, call me. I promise to continue at my end and keep you informed.”

“THANK YOU, MAMA CRY.” Papyrus replied miserably.

“What’s with the bag child?”

Tina had prepared Greeny for this question.

“Tina gave me some pictures. I’m using the bag to keep them safe till I come back.” The bag was shifted, moving as he pulled the strapped further onto his shoulders, “I was hoping it might brighten Sans’s mood?”

“It’s certainly worth a try.”

Tina felt Greeny step up and the sensation of being lifted. If Papyrus noticed the added weight, he didn’t say anything.

“Goodbye Mama Cry!”

“Goodbye child, and try to stay positive.” She sighed, “It’s all we can do.”

Papyrus nodded, turning to leave. Tina could barely see Mama Cry through the bag, her face falling the moment Papyrus turned to leave.

_‘Strange to think I might never see her again.’_

Whatever happened to her, Mama Cry’s existence proved to her that good monsters existed. Without her initial kindness and trust, she knew she wouldn’t be alive right now, never mind accepting monster adoption for the other children.

Papyrus entered a car, a door slamming and a seat belt clicking into place. Greeny was lifted and placed on a lower position (the passenger seat if she had to guess).

When Papyrus didn’t immediately start up the engine, Greeny spoke up, “It’ll be okay Papyrus. I’m sure Tina will be better tomorrow, and then we can get them to see each other again soon!”

Greeny’s body moved in a repeated motion, and if Tina had to guess again, it felt like Papyrus was patting him.

“THANK YOU LITTLE ONE.” Papyrus’s tone brightened, “IF WE KEEP POSITIVE, I’M SURE SANS WILL COME AROUND…EVENTUALLY. AND YOU’VE GOT SOME WONDERFUL PICTURES TO SHOW HIM. I’M SURE THAT WILL BRIGHTEN HIS DAY!”

“Yea! And by the time we come back, I’m sure Tina will have changed her mind!”

“REALLY?!”

“Yep!”

The car engine started and the sensation of moving reminded Tina just how long she had last long been in a car. Her last owner had never used one and she couldn’t remember anything about her time before she became a bitty. Yet, the sensation was somehow familiar to her.

_‘Sort of like my drawing.’_

With no recollection of her past, odd flashes of past skills and sensations was old news to a bitty. It just served to remind her that she hadn’t always been this small.

~*~

Greeny and Papyrus talked about what they might do to brighten Sans’s mood for tonight. Greeny suggested that they get some of that ‘fancy’ tomato sauce and Papyrus agreed, surprising Greeny for some reason. After a quick detour, they pulled up in the front of a house. Greeny (with Tina still in the bag) climbed onto Papyrus’s shoulder and he made his way to the house, grocery bags in hand.

“SANS! WE’RE HOME!”

There was no reply.

“I saw Tina today, and she gave me some drawings!”

“how was she?”

Sans materialised behind Papyrus, and Tina got a brief look at him before Papyrus spun around. His clothes were in complete disarray and there were dark shadows under his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“SANS! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT DOING THAT?”

“sorry” Sans mumbled, his voice noticeable monotone. “how was Tina?”

“She- she’s.” Greeny tried again, “She’s-.”

“SHE HASN’T LEFT HER ROOM EITHER SANS.”

There was a brief awkward moment of silence.

“I, ER, I GOT YOU SOME OF YOUR SPECIAL TOMATO SAUCE THAT YOU LIKED.” Papyrus brightened, “AND I WAS THINKING WE’D TRY THAT ‘TOMATO SOUP’ RECIPE AGAIN!”

“We promise we’ll follow the recipe exactly as it says to on the can.”

Sans chuckled, but it wasn’t how Tina remembered it.

They moved into the kitchen, the sounds of grocery bags being placed and searched.

“HERE YOU GO SANS.”

“thanks paps.”

“And I’ll get those pictures out to show you.”

They hadn’t talked about actually giving Sans a picture, at least not with her in the bag anyway. Trying not to move, Tina felt around for her sketchbook, moving in subtly to the top of the bag. Greeny seemed to have the same idea, because he opened the bag with his face pressed against the small gap he made. Quickly, he grabbed her sketchbook and zipped the bag back up.

“Here Sans.”

The was a brief moment of silence.

“tina didn’t want this?” Sans asked, he tone noticeable lower

“She said she wants them all back. That’s why I bought the bag, so I can keep them safe when I see her tomorrow.”

“YOU REALLY SHOULD COME WITH US SANS, MAMA CRY SAYS SHE HASN’T BEEN OUT OF HER ROOM SINCE YOU STOPPED SEEING HER AND I'M SURE THAT MEANS SHE'S MISSING YOU.”

Sans didn’t reply and Papyrus soon sighed.

“I WISH SANS WOULD STOP DOING THAT AND ACTUALLY TALK TO ME INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY” Papyrus whispered.

Greeny coughed, “Um, Papyrus? I’d like to go up to my room and wash up.”

“SURE.” Papyrus replied, tone much lower than it had been just moments ago.

Tina and the bag were lifted back onto Greeny’s back, before being lifted high and carried. They went up what felt like stairs, before the sound of a door being opened could be heard.

Greeny was lowered and he turned around to look at Papyrus, giving Tina a view of a well designed small house behind him.

“I’LL, I’LL COME GET YOU AFTER DINNER’S READY.”

“Don’t be silly Pappy! I just want to put this bag away and I’ll come down and help you. You-“, Greeny stalled, “-you go and make sure Sans’s okay.”

Tina didn’t see Papyrus reply, only heard the quiet sound of a door closing.

The bag was gently lowered to the floor and Greeny was soon opening up the bag, his worried face filling her view.

“See what I mean?”

She nodded.

“I’m going to help Papyrus cook dinner. You-“ he looked meaningfully at her, “you stay here and think about whatever you need to so that you and Sans can get back together.” He brightened, “I’ll sneak in some dinner, maybe even some dessert!”

She grinned, rubbing his hair affectionately.

He quickly ran towards the huge door, opening a small hatch that had been installed at its base as a second, miniature door.

Alone now, Tina looked around the small house, noting pleasantly that is was really well made; spacious and just the right size for a bitty. There were plenty of online stores, but she was actually starting to suspect that this might have been built by Papyrus himself.

Tina entered the bitty house, looking around at all the space Greeny had to himself. There was a bathroom, two bedrooms and a room filled with toys.

She was browsing Greeny’s closet when she noticed a skeletal leg standing outside the bitty house. Crouching low, she waited.

It sounded like whoever it was looking through the bag left outside. Whatever they were looking for, they didn’t find it as they quickly gave up with a sigh.

“must have been my imagination.”

_‘Sans.’_

Sans stood there, doing or looking at what, she didn’t dare move to find out. She thought he might be looking for her, but that didn’t make sense. He didn’t know she was here…so why did it feel like he was searching for her?

Before either one of them could do much more, Papyrus’s called from downstairs, “Sans! Dinner’s ready!”

 Sans sighed, then he was gone.

Still, she didn’t trust her sense that told her Sans had left by whatever powers he had that allowed him to suddenly turn up behind people, so she waited a bit longer. After a time, she felt safe enough, confirming the Sans was long gone.

Moving quickly through the bitty house and out to her bag, she confirmed nothing was missing. In fact, her sketchbook had been returned, gently placed next to the bag.

_‘Why would Sans be looking for me?’_

Needing an answer to that, Tina left the room, exiting through the small door that Greeny had.

She entered a large landing, stairs leading off to the side. After making sure that climbing back up the stairs was possible, Tina slide down each step, eventually making it to the bottom floor. From memory, the kitchen was off to the side, and that’s where the sounds of voices were coming from. Carefully, she made her way to the door frame and peered in.

Both skeletons were sitting at the table, and she could just see the top of Greeny's head. If she had to guess, it looked like he was sitting at a small table on the main table, probably built for his size.

“ARE YOU ENJOYING THE SOUP SANS?”

Sans shrugged, his voice still low “it’s great paps.”

“DID YOU LIKE TINA’S PICTURES?” Papyrus asked.

“There seemed to be many new ones since I left.” Greeny added.

“there were.” Sans confirmed, saying nothing more.

There was more silence as everyone continued to eat.

“Papyrus, I was wondering if I can take some of these croutons for a late night snack.”

“since when do you snack kid?” Sans asked, his interest perked.

“Since I’m not feeling well.” Greeny replied, sounding unsure.

Sans chuckled.

“ARE YOU FEELING OKAY?” Papyrus asked.

“I’m okay. Think I’ll go to bed early though, just to be safe.”

“does that mean you don’t want dessert?”

“Oh no! Can I please some chocolate?"

Sans chuckled while Papyrus stood up and opened a cardboard.

“WE HAVE HAZELNUT, STRAWBERRY AND PEPPERMINT LEFT.”

“Oh! Peppermint please!”

There was a pause.

“i thought you hated peppermint.” Sans said slowly

“I, er, I’ve changed my mind. I actually love peppermint.”

Tina giggled quietly to herself. Greeny hated peppermint. Couldn’t stand the stuff, let alone watching her eat it whenever Mama Cry gave out treats to the bitties.

Sans chuckled, sounding more genuine since she had been here, “hey paps, i’ve been thinking; since greeny isn’t really a good name for the kid and he loves peppermint, how about we call him minty? it referenced both to his favourite treat and the cooking spice.”

“I LOVE IT!” Papyrus turned to Greeny, “ASSUMING THAT YOU LIKE THE NAME, OF COURSE?”

Greeny stood there, trapped. Tina watched, grinning, as she watched the wheels turn in his head. If he declined, he would have to explain why, which would probably lead to him admitting that he had lied. Not to mention he also didn’t want to let down Papyrus, who everyone could tell loved the name.

“Of course I like the name, why wouldn’t I?” Greeny (now Minty) replied through clenched teeth.

“WONDERFUL!” Papyrus picked up Minty, hugging him, “YOU’RE NAME IS NOW MINTY! A PROPER NAME FOR THE BEST BITTY IN THE WORLD!”

“Aww, Pappy. You spoil me.” Minty grinned back at Papyrus, entirely defeated.

Smiling fondly, Tina left, content to wait for Minty upstairs…and ready to rift on him the moment he came upstairs for bed.

~*~

Sans entered Papyrus’s room later that night, searching. All night, he had seen signs of Tina, hoping against hope that they were real and not wishful thinking. Hair in the bag, a giggle behind him at dinner and flashes of an unexpected soul, yet so familiar, popping in and out of existence. It was all he could do to convince himself he wasn’t going mad.

Approaching Minty’s house, Sans allowed his magic to flow, to feel and sense the presence of a different soul. He had tried to do this before dinner, but ran out of time, his initial search disheartening as he failed to sense any life. Pure desperation drove him now.

He immediately felt Minty’ bright, green soul, a perfect match for his brother. Moving past him, Sans continued searched. If Tina was here, she would be difficult to find.

He remembered when he first met her; the fact that she was an adult wasn’t that interesting to him. However, the moment he tried to read her, to get a read on her soul, Sans meet a wall, a blank nothing that hid whatever lay beyond it.

That wasn’t too unusual, Sans had come to realise since being on the surface, that many adult humans had dimmed souls, the passion within them burnt out or faded. No, what had interested him was the sharp strike of pain, the vivid flow of emotions that engulfed her the day Minty had been adopted. She had shone brightly with every colour then; clear and intense.

Then all of that had faded to back to the nothing, and Sans had wanted to know everything about her since. The more he came to know her, the more he came to genially enjoy her company, seeing her for the wonderful person that she was…when the nothing allowed her to be.

But then it all had turned to black, her soul screaming in agony on the last day they saw each other.

He had been spending all this time convinced he had done that to her, shocked and grieving in sympathetic pain he had felt as his own. He didn’t want that to happen to her again…even if that meant he denied his fondest wish and stayed away.

_‘so what does it mean if she’s here?’_

He didn’t know. All that he knew was that he had to make sure, to prove that he wasn’t losing his mind.

_‘there!’_

He felt her, barely. If he hadn’t guessed the correct location to search her, he wouldn’t have found her.

Gently, he unclipped the roof, giving him access from above.

His soul leapt, seeing her safety sleeping in a small bed. No pain, no regret, just peaceful sleep.

He reached for her, his response automatic.

Instantly, her soul blackened, becoming jagged and sharp. He quickly withdrew his hand, checking her face to make sure she was still sleeping.

She was, and Sans breathed a sigh of relief for that.

He watched her, waiting for her soul to settle. It did, but at a pace so slow only a patient monster would have noticed it. Whatever hell she had been through followed her, even in sleep.

Clenching his fits, he felt resolved to do something, anything, that would make her life just a bit better.

Thinking back on the last day he had seen her, Sans allowed his magic to flow to her, wishing for healing.

He wasn’t a good healer, didn’t have the hope for it, but he would try if it meant she didn’t ever have to taste her own blood again.

 

Next chapter is called: Conditions and Condition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you follow me on tumblr, you may think the ‘dog who bites’ is a reference to me? It’s not, it’s a reference for Batman trying to describe how Tina makes them feel. I’m all good now (actually, it’s partially the reason for this update because I had the time).
> 
> Now, I suck at drawing, but it's something I wish I could do. So, rather than just complain about it, I thought I would ATTEMPT it, to actually try and get better. But what to draw? Why inflict my sad drawings on someone else's work.....
> 
> I know! I'll draw the main scene for the next chapters for all my stories! Yea, and I'll put them up on tumblr in the next few days, that way, even as they hurt people's eyes, people might enjoy guessing what the next chapter might be like? Sort of like a horrible game of Pictionary?
> 
> They'll be on my tumblr and if you have any advice, please let me know!
> 
> Or, if you have any questions/anything really, let me know, okay?
> 
>  
> 
> Oh! And Happy Gyftmas! See you all in the New Year!


	7. Conditions and Condition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, the second part is pretty intense. If you can’t stand death, blood and violence, then you should stop reading. This isn’t a happy story; it’s about surviving something horrible and trying to make it work.
> 
> Hope…sometimes hope can destroy someone more completely than torture. If you can’t understand that, if that doesn’t make sense to you, please read something else.  
> I’ve got plenty of happy stories!
> 
> ….but this isn’t one of them.

Tina awoke to feel her throat had stopped throbbing. A whole day without Sea Tea and ragging on Minty’s new name had left her with a painful twinge at the back of her throat last night, but that was gone now.

_‘Perhaps today’s a good day after all?’_

Right on cue, Minty ran into her room and jumped right on top of her.

“Ommpff!”

“Morning Tina!”

 _‘I really should have made sure the door was locked.’_ she chastised herself angrily.

Pushing aside her serious error, she beamed up at Minty, who smiled down at her. Laying on her body and bringing his faces inches from her, he asked, “So? Are you going to start seeing Sans again? Didn’t I tell you he missed you?”

Gently pushing him off her, she stood up from her bed, cracking her back with a stretch and a yawn.

“Tina!”

She looked back to see Minty sitting there, with his arms crossed. “Don’t ignore me” he pouted.

Smiling, she rubbed his head, knowing better than to ignore him. It was his absolutely hated thing and he had a very low tolerance for people who did it. Not that he required an answer straight away, but Tina had long learned to at least tell him she had heard him, to acknowledge him in some way.

She nodded and answered, “Yea, I’ll see him again”.

It was all she could do to cover his mouth as he whooped and celebrated as loudly as only he could in time.

In truth, she had come to her decision last night.

She missed Sans, missed the companionship of someone not afraid of her, who seemed to actually, genuinely enjoy her company (as strange as that was to her). She missed Minty too, missed seeing a child who could look at her without fear. She had long known that her efforts to help at the Bitty Center were minimal at best; her very presence casts a dark shadow that actively drove some children to seek adoption just to escape her watchful gaze. Before the hotdog instance, she hadn’t realised how much she had liked being accepted till she suddenly wasn’t again.

If Sans was willing to give her a chance, perhaps she should take this opportunity with both hands. If it didn’t work out, then it wasn’t like she was trapped here and she would take steps to ensure she wouldn’t be.

 _‘Still,’_ she thought, ushering Minty out after telling him to ask Papyrus to return to the Bitty Adoption Center, _‘I’m not about to go into this without testing how certain Sans is about adopting me. Not without fore filing certain conditions.’_

~*~

Getting back to the centre was an unusual experience.

Papyrus hadn’t wanted to go until after breakfast (which Minty helped him prepare) and Sans had insisted that Minty take some snacks and peppermint chocolate for her at the Adoption Center. She had stared at the food Minty dumped before her and listened to him explaining Sans’s odd behaviour, his apparent brighter mood.

“It’s like he knows you’re planning to see him again!”

_‘Or he knows that I’m here right now.’_

Shrugging, she had finished off the snack that was her breakfast and packed the rest into the bag with her. Sans knowing she was here was unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. She already knew Sans was clever and Minty just didn’t have it in him to be a good lair. Any number of things might have tipped him off, and it wasn’t like it mattered now, not with her heading back.

_‘Or perhaps I was right about his mood eventually brighten, that he’d get over it with time.’_

She pushed aside the thought and continued to watch the world passing by as Papyrus drove. Soon, she could cast off doubts like that with certainty. She had long ago learnt better than to wallow in self-pity, and instead be pragmatic about her situation.

Papyrus parked the car and soon Minty was back on his shoulder as the pair (plus one hitchhiker) passed through the doors.

“Hello again Papyrus! Hello child.”

“HELLO MAMA CRY. HE’S NAME IS MINTY NOW!” He still sounded so happy about it.

“Really? What a lovely and unusual name”

Tina grinned, sure Mama Cry could well recall that Minty hated peppermint chocolate.

“Can I go see Tina now?”

Tina nudged Minty’s back, trying to subtly tell him not to be rude.

“Please.” he amended.

“Sure, although she didn’t come out last night for dinner.”

“SANS GAVE US SOME THINGS FOR HER THAT WE’VE BEEN ASKED TO PASS ALONG. PERHAPS SHE’LL BE HAPPY TO SEE THEM?”

“Oh, did Sans not want to come?” Her tone was not pleased.

“…NO.” Papyrus brightened, “BUT HE WAS IN A MUCH BETTER MOOD THIS MORNING!”

“Well, at least that’s something.”

There was an awkward pause.

“So, can I see Tina now?”

“Oh! Yes, of course.”

“Thank you Mama Cry.”

Papyrus moved and eventually Minty was lifted and placed on the ground.

“I’LL BE WITH MAMA CRY WHEN YOU’RE DONE.”

“Thanks Pappy!”

Minty ran, with Tina jolting around in the bag. Before long, she felt herself placed somewhere soft, the bag opening up to a beaming Minty.

“Told you I could get you back.”

Smiling, she left the bag, tipping out all the snacks on her bed. She handed the bag to Minty, levelling him with a stern look, “Make sure you return this where you found it.”

Minty took the bag, rolling his eyes, before quickly leaving her room.

Tina sat on the bed, wondering how long she should wait to tell Papyrus to tell Sans she wanted to see him.

_‘What’s the point in waiting?’_

~*~

Tina stood on Mama Cry’s desk the next day, waiting for Sans to arrive. After Minty had returned, she had walked out with him and asked Papyrus to pass along a message to see Sans, to his giddy, relieved delight. Mama Cry, beyond being shocked, had asked Papyrus to delay the meeting until tomorrow. Papyrus had been confused, but agreed willingly, simply just happy that he could see a way to help his brother at last.

When Papyrus and Minty had left, Mama Cry had drilled her, asking what was with the sudden change. Anyone else would have been told to mind their own business, but she owed Mama Cry too much, understood too well that her concern came from a place of love to ever be so harsh. So she had laid out her thoughts and feelings, explaining her plan and conditions that Sans had to meet and asking in turn for her help. Mama Cry was torn between joy and reservation, but eventually she agreed to help, offering her private office for this conversation and to stay out after she established the ground rules.

She looked over to Mama Cry, who was nervously looking at the clock. She could tell that Mama Cry was still split between whether this was a good idea or not; probably with lingering fears on what seeing Sans would do to her psyche after last time.

A knock startled both of them, quickly ending the internal debate for both of them.

_‘Too late now.’_

Mama Cry looked to her, and upon seeing her nod, walked over and opened the door.

“Hello Sans”

“hello mama cry.”

Sans walked in, his eyes quickly drawn to Tina. She greeted him with a small smile, which he returned, “hi tina.”

She waved.

“Before you two talk-“ Sans turned around to see Mama Cry at the doorway, “-there are a few conditions.”

Seeing that she had both their attention, she continued, “Tina will be drinking a lot of Sea Tea and often.” She pointed to the cup next to Tina, with a long straw. “The moment she starts coughing is the moment this meeting ends.”

Mama Cry looked Sans dead in the eye, no hint of a smile. “This is her meeting Sans. Short of her coughing, it ends when she decides, not you. I need to make that explicitly clear.”

“right” Sans agreed quickly.

Mama Cry pointed to a nearby bell on the other side of Tina, “If I hear that bell, I will come in and take Tina away. Hopefully-“ she smiled at Tina, “-it’ll be because the meeting is ending pleasantly.” She looked around the room with a sigh, “That’s it. I’ll be just outside.”

She nodded to herself, before she looked at Tina, who nodded quickly. Smiling, she closed the door behind her.

Steeling herself, Tina cleared her throat, drawing Sans attention to her. She smiled shyly, aware that the last time he saw her, she had been in tears, covered in blood and vomit.

Looking away, she indicated to the chair, “Sit, please.”

Sans moved slowly across the room to the chair, hesitating before sitting.

There was a long stretch of silence.

“you look better.”

She stared at him, watching him look away as the full horror of what he said hit him. She laughed, glad to see she wasn’t the only awkward one.

“Heh, it’s okay Sans. I’m glad to see you too”. She looked around her, “And that’s why you’re here, actually.” She pulled out the poster that she used to keep at the back of her door, handing this to him.

“what’s this?”

“It’s a list of all the reasons why bitty adoption is a good thing.”

She took a sip while Sans read over the list. Pushing away the straw, she continued, “After what happened to me, that list, which I continually add to, helped keep me grounded as I watched bitty after bitty leave in the hands of monsters. It was the only thing that allowed me to be okay with this whole adoption centre, because it stated facts that cannot be disputed.”

She looked away, “However, that list always applied to others, never to me. And for a long time, I never wished for it to change.”

“now?” Sans asked, passing back the list.

“Now? Now I find myself thinking about it.” She looked up at him, “Since I’ve lost my memories, I have never known friendship, never knew what it meant to be accepted or even liked. My interactions with the children here has only ever been that of a glorified babysitter, and after what I’ve been through, I was grateful for even that. But since I’ve met you-“ She narrowed her eyes at him, “-sorry, since you insisted on seeing me-“ he grinned, “-I find that I actually want more than that.”

She looked down at the list, “Now I find myself in the unfortunate position of wanting everything on this list for myself.”

She crumpled the list, dropping it to the desktop.

“Are you serious about wanting to adopt me?” She asked, looking up at him.

Sans didn’t blink, his expression the most serious she had ever seen, “yes.”

She nodded, looking back at the crumpled list on the desk, “I want to ask why, because no one who knows what I’ve done could possibly stand to be near me, but I know better than to ask.” She looked up at him and his sad expression, “I simply won’t believe anything you say, not unless it echoes my self-loathing.”

“tina-“

She stuck up her hand, stopping him, “It is what it is, and it isn’t going to change today. Fortunately, I don’t need to know your reasons, only that you will keep to a few conditions.”

He nodded, “name them.”

“First, I-“ her words caught in her throat, “I need to know that I can trust you. To that end, I would like to continue to live here, but go with you during the day, a few hours at a time.” She shrugged, “I’ll go wherever you are, whether it’s at work or at home.”

He nodded, smiling happily at the very idea.

“Second, I need it to be understood that, if I say I want to leave, you need to let me leave.” She stared at him, “never trap me somewhere I don’t want to be, never ignore my wishes.” She shrugged, “I’m not expecting to be pampered, but I need to know that you’ll respect my rights as an individual, as best as you can.”

“always” Sans smiled warmly at her. She blushed, looking away.

“Thirdly, if this works, this will be a slow progress to full adoption. But I have specialised needs that need to be met.” She looked away, “You already know about the Container, but there are other things I need.”

“such as?”

She shrugged, “A private sleeping space with locks on my side of the door, a safe place to sleep.” She looked him in the eye, “A pin and an emergency bag filled with supplies.”

When she saw Sans about to say something, she quickly stopped him, “And lastly, I need you to think about your answer for at least a day.” She looked away, “Please treat this seriously and really consider my conditions before you agree to them.”

“tina, my answer won’t change. i want to-”

“Stop! I need to know that you’ve thought about this completely and all the way through!” She looked up at him, “I’ll accept any answer happily, but I-“ her voice wavered, “I don’t think I could handle it if you changed your mind mid-way.”

He nodded solemnly.

Feeling the weight off her shoulders, she sagged, sitting on the desk.

_‘I’ve said what I needed to. He’ll either agree or he won’t.’_

“tina, i-“

She looked up to see Sans rubbing his neck, awkwardly. Seeing her staring at him, he sighed, dropping his hand and shoulders. “tina, i’m sorry for the other day, with the dog pile incident.”

She stared at him, slowly breaking out into a huge smile. Standing, she walked over to his hands, patting them.

“Sans, there is no need to apologise” She shrugged, “It’s part of my condition, part of my everyday life. If I had to choose between you forgetting that I’m not normal, or treating me like I could break at any moment, I would always choose the option that lets me forget, for however long, my past.”

She laughed at his confused expression, “Don’t you understand? Part of the reason that I like hanging out with you is that you don’t treat me differently.” She looked away, “You treat me better than I deserve, and I’m selfish for wanting more.”

“tina- “ Sans stopped, trying again “you’re a good kid. i wish i could convince you of that.”

She grinned weakly, sitting down on his palm and looking away, “I don’t know about that, but being with you makes me want to be better, so perhaps that’s enough.”

She looked up at him, “It’s a start at least."

~*~

Sans carried Tina out of the room, the bell un-rung. So it wasn’t surprising that Mama Cry filched when the door opened suddenly behind her, or her baffled expression upon seeing Tina on Sans’s hand.

“H-how did it go?”

Tina smiled, looking up at Sans’s returning smile, “It went really well.” She looked back at Mama Cry, “We’ll talk again tomorrow, after Sans has had time to think about my conditions.”

He nodded, before throwing Mama Cry a questioning look, “can i take tina back to her room?”

Mama Cry nodded, staring at disbelief at the adult bitty, who she could honestly not recall talking to anyone quite like she had done with Sans. Sure, Tina got along really well with Minty, but that relationship had always leaned more towards an older sibling or parent relationship. Tina’s smile, looking up as Sans, it was reserved and doubtful, but…

_‘There’s something there!’_

Now she was really regretting what she planned to say to Sans.

All too soon, Sans walked passed her on his way out, bidding her goodbye. She almost considered letting him go without talking to him.

“Sans, wait!”

Sans stopped walking towards the exit, to look over his shoulder to see Mama Cry pushing herself up from the front counter with a heavy sigh.

Seeing him stop, she stood up and straightened, resolving something internally with herself.

“I think-“ she stated after taking a deep breath, “-that it’s time that I told you about the night that Tina first came here.”

<|>

Mama Cry looked away from the clock to stare at the Queen (although she insisted that she be called Toriel) yet again. All night long, the pair had been sitting in relative silence in the Bitty Adoption centre, well aware that silence could soon be shattered by the sudden appearance of Undyne and the Royal Guard. Yet neither of them expected The Guard to take this long, the hour of their expected arrival having passed many hours ago.

She had already managed to clean everything twice and, if this had been a normal day, she would have gone to bed hours ago. In fact, she looked at the clock again, she would be expecting to wake up in a few hours.

But tonight wasn’t normal, and the fact that The Guard wasn't here and hadn't contacted anyone worried both of them. The raid scheduled for tonight was meant to be relatively easy, everything was planned to minute details and the Guard had been preparing for it weeks in advance. That’s how they first approached her, with the Queen telling her about the bitty fighting matches and asking for her help to heal and shelter the survivors. When she had asked how they knew about this, the Queen levelled her with a stare, simply stating that it was vital that she didn’t know any details and that she could only help if she refrained from asking questions. She had agreed, if for no other reason than she had to. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t do everything in her power to help injured bitties.

Suddenly, the front door slammed open hard, the sounds of glass and metal breaking from the impact. Undyne, captain of the Royal Guard stood in with multiple carrier cages under both arms. Doggo, her right-hand officer, followed closely behind her, carrying more boxes.

“Toriel! Mama Cry! Quick! We need healing now!”

Both women rushed forward, lifting a carried cage each from Undyne. With her arms lightened, Undyne placed the remaining box behind her, before stepping towards Toriel and Mama Cry who were already healing.

Mama Cry looked down at the small child in her hands, blood staining her furred hands. The child was too quiet, staring up at her dazed with old multiple small wounds crisscrossing their tiny body. Blood ebbed from their small neck and she focused all her power on it, trying desperately to stop the flow. As her magic entered the child, her will shaping it for healing, she felt each heartbeat of the child as her own.

Felt It slow.

Slow….

.

.

Stop.

 

Mama Cry looked down at the still child, the echo of a heartbeat that was not hers stopping disturbed her greatly.

“Mama Cry?”

She flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking sharply up, she saw Undyne looking down at her hands in sadden frustration. Without offering, Undyne reached over and took the still child from her, lifting the little body away from her.

“Undyne, what happened?”

Undyne growled in frustration and ignored Toriel's question, placing the little body into the smallest box Doggo offered. When Undyne attempted to take the box from him, Doggo moved the box away.

“Give me the box Doggo!” Undyne snapped.

Doggo shook his head, holding the box away, “No.”

Before Undyne could snap at him, he continued, “A good pack leader knows when to rely upon their pack.” He looked sadly at the box, “I can not see them, so they will not haunt my dreams like they will yours.”

Undyne gnashed her teeth, her fists clenched, “I am not a good pack leader! If I was, I would have been there sooner!” When she saw that Doggo wasn't going to change his mind, she sighed heavily, resigned, “Fine, then I need you to head back and make sure the others are okay.” She nodded towards the box he still had in his hand, “Make sure no looks inside and keep it somewhere safe. I- I’ll deal with it when I’m done here.”

Doggo patted her shoulder as he moved past her and towards the exit. He turned back to her, hand on the broken door, “You’re a great pack leader.” He looked away, “No expects the pack leader to be perfect.”

He left.

“Undyne.”

Undyne turned to face Toriel, who was gently placing the bitty child she had been healing back into the carrier cage.

Unable to stop herself, Mama Cry asked desperately, “Is that child okay?”

Toriel started, before her face softened slightly. “The child is healed, if a bit scared. I’ve coxed them to sleep.”

Nodding with relief, she turned to the last of the cages behind Undyne and pointed, “Are there more bitties in there?”

Undyne paled, reluctantly turning to the box. “Um, yea. Just one more.”

She bent over and opened a makeshift lid at the top of the carrier cage, reached in and brought out one of the youngest bitty child she had ever seen. Undyne carried over the bitty to her and gently handed the child to her, sliding them into her hands.

The child was female and smaller than she should have been for her age. She clung to herself, looking around her in fear and shaking in her soft hands. When Mama Cry looked over her for injuries, she didn’t resist beyond flinching and squeaking in barely contained terror. There was no blood on her, so she focused on making her magic calm instead, willing peace and sleep that she no longer felt

“Undyne, what about that one?”

Mama Cry looked up to see Toriel pointing back at the carrier cage.

Undyne stepped in front of the cage, her arms folded. “There’s nothing anyone can do for it, so leave it alone. It’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Toriel exclaimed in amazement before her face darkened, “If you expect me to stand here and not make sure all the bitties are safe, then you clearly do not know me as well as you do Asgore.”

Toriel strode forward, but before she could reach for the cage, Undyne barked “Ten! Kill the monsters!”

The box thrashed violently as something rammed and clawed the cage, bitty hands reaching out and clawing the air. Toriel took a startled step back and Mama Cry institutionally covered the sleeping child in her hands.

Grimacing, Undyne unfolded her arms and looked directly at Toriel, “Ten! Stop.”

The box stilled.

“Undyne, what was that?! What happened tonight?”

Undyne looked away from Toriel searching gaze, her fists once again clenching. “What happened is that they changed the time by an hour. So instead of arriving with time to prepare, half of my team and myself arrived and got recognised, and they all scattered.” She looked up sharply, “They were already an hour into the rounds Toriel, and I think you and I both know the matches don’t last long.”

Toriel paled, yet Undyne continued, lifting and placing the last carrier cage on a nearby table. “We managed to get most of the owners, but a few escaped.” She looked sickened at the thought. “I’ve got a few of my trackers looking for them right now, but I think we got all most all of them.” She met Toriel's eye, meaningfully, “It’s as complicated as we thought it’d be.”

Toriel nodded, but didn’t say anything.

Mama cry peered inside the carrier. There sat a rare, female adult bitty in ragged clothes, covered in scars and blood. The bitty didn’t look up at her, didn’t react at all, just sat kneeling on the floor and staring at the ground. She wasn’t good at sensing souls (there weren’t many monsters who were) but she was sure she should have felt something, anything but this black numbness.

Looking around at the box, she noticed how a section at the back had been separated with metal mash, the gaps too small for even a bitty to pass through. The makeshift lid directly leads to that section, otherwise it was inaccessible from any angle. The metal mash wasn’t the only thing metal that didn’t belong to the cage. Fastened around the adult bitty’s waist was a short length of chain, leading towards a heavy looking weight. The weight didn’t look heavy enough to stop her, so why was it there?

She looked away from the box and asked Undyne, “Why is there a weight and chain around her waist?”

Undyne gestured to the box and spat, “Tonight was a special event; kill the rare adult bitty and win the jackpot.” She looked up to see Mama Cry’s horrified look, “I think the chain was to slow her down, some sort of handicap. Obviously, it didn’t work.”

“Obviously?” Mama Cry gasped in horror.

Undyne nodded, “Every bitty killed tonight died at that bitty’s hands. I personally checked all the bodies and every single one of them was killed with precise, fatal blows. I don’t know how long it's been killing its own kind, but it's been doing it for a long time.”

She looked to Toriel, “It’s my recommendation to put it down.”

“You can’t!”

Toriel and Undyne looked to Mama Cry in shock, who was now standing in front of the box, protectively, “Can’t you tell that this isn’t her fault?”

Undyne narrowed her eye at Mama Cry, “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t know she’s just as much a victim as all the bitties she’s killed?! This isn’t about justice.” She looked to Toriel, “This is about protecting others from someone who’s gone through hell. Toriel, you and I can both remember monsters that lived through the Great War with the humans! They never recovered!”

“You can’t know that!”

“Can’t I?!” Undyne straightened, “Ten! Hurt yourself!”

The bitty in the cage began to repeatedly slam her head to the floor, punching her face and violently pulling her hair.

“Undyne, stop!”

“Ten! Cry!”

The bitty busted into tears, her wails echoing around the entire centre.

“Ten! Laugh!”

Her wails turned suddenly into laughter, her bright, smiling face in stark contrast to the horror of all the monster who watched her.

“Ten! Kill yourself!”

The bitty grabbed her own neck and squeezed hard, her face turning red under the new blood the flowed down her head.

“Ten! Stop!” Mama Cry cried.

The bitty collapsed, quickly returning to her previous kneeling position.

Undyne, looking sick, straightened, “There isn’t any order that bitty won’t follow if you say its name.” She looked Mama Cry dead in the eye, “Don’t you get it? Whatever was done to her can never be fixed! How can you, or anyone else, expect someone who is behaving like that to ever recover?!” She looked away, “I wish there was something we could do, but there isn’t. The kindest thing we can do now is give her a merciful death.”

Mama Cry shook her head, horrified with what she had just seen and what Undyne planned to do. Desperate, she blurted out, “What about the other bitty?”

“The other what?”

Ignoring Undyne’s confusion, Mama Cry brought her hands still holding the sleeping bitty closer to the cage. Revelling the young bitty, she tentatively spoke, “Ten, hurt this bitty.”

They all watched as the adult bitty shook, its eyes wildly darting around its small cage while its hands clawed at the floor.

Holding her breath, Mama Cry opened the carrier’s door and repeated, “Ten, hurt this bitty.”

The shaking increased, its fists began to beat upon the floor while a weird groan emanated from it.

Smiling softly, Mama Cry closed the door, whispering, “Ten, you can stop now.”

The bitty sagged and stilled.

Mama Cry looked to the stunned faces of Toriel and Undyne, who could obviously not believe their eyes.

“But- but why wouldn’t she go after that bitty! She’s had no problem killing the others!”

Toriel spoke up, a fire burning in her eyes, “I think her owner has been using that young bitty against her. I imagine threats of hurting the child has made the adult compliment.”

Mama Cry nodded in agreement, sighing, “Those were my suspicions.”

Nodding Toriel turn to Undyne, her expression thunderous, “Where is this bitty’s owner?”

“We’ve got them, but it’s complicated.”

“It always is.” Toriel looked back at Mama Cry with a sigh, “I can understand what Undyne is saying  about how dangerous that bitty will be, but I can also see that you want to try.”

Mama Cry quickly nodded.

Toriel met her stare, grave, “But know this; you are risking innocent lives on someone who may be beyond help. If it should hurt anyone, I will personally come down here and remove it.” She sighed, “However, I will leave the decision to you and respect your choice.”

<|>

Mama Cry looked up from staring at the spot Tina’s cage has once rested to see Sans’s dark expression. She sighed, “Obviously, I decided to help her. The hardest part was getting her to respond beyond simply following commands. She’d ignore you if you didn’t say ‘Ten’, and only then, it was to follow your instructions. So I found a human name that was close to Ten and had to always phrase my instructions as questions, getting her to think about the answers. Eventfully, over time and exposure, she can now hear the word ‘ten’ and not automatically revert back to how she was before. That took even more time.”

She looked at her hands, “I healed what scars I could, and it wasn’t until she actually started talking to me that I realised that something was wrong with her voice. The first time she coughed blood, I panicked and gave her too much Sea Tea. We both realised then that she couldn’t drown in it, and thus the Container became our emergency plan.”

“why didn’t you just heal her throat with magic?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, not liking his implications, “I think I didn’t try? That I didn’t offer? She’s never wanted anyone to heal that, steadfastly refusing to even consider it or tell me why I couldn’t.”

“so what became of the previous owner?” Sans asked, not meeting her eyes.

She shrugged, “I was never told who they were; just that it was complicated and that they were being punished.” She looked pointedly at Sans, “I don’t expect that Undyne or the Queen will tell you anything more.”

Sans sighed, but reluctantly nodded.

She continued, “The best thing we can do for her is not fixate on the past anyway. You saw how she reacted when she was faced with children covered in blood. Her past will always, unfortunately, be a part of who she is and she will never forgive herself for her actions, no matter what anyone tells her. She’s already fixated and trapped by her past, she doesn’t need someone else doing that for her.”

Sans nodded again, this time meeting her pointed stare.

With a small smile, Mama Cry indicated towards the exit, “Now, I believe that it’s time that you leave. You’ve got a lot to think about and I’ve got duties to perform.”

Sans smiled at her, offering his hand, “thank you for telling me all this mama cry.”

She shook his hand, “See you tomorrow Sans.”

She watched as Sans left her building, walking down the street till he was out of sight. With a long sigh, she moved away from her front desk and over towards the Bitty’s sleeping space. Knocking on a particular roof, she stood back and waited.

Tina emerged from her room, looking up at her expectantly.

She nodded, “I told him, just like you asked, although I can’t say that I’m happy that I did. Are you still sure this was a good idea? You don’t owe anyone anything and he certainly didn’t have to know.”

“No,” Tina quietly disagreed, looking to the front door, “if he’s serious, he deserves to know what sort of demon he wants to invite into his life.”

“You’re past doesn’t have to define you, you know?”

Tina smiled up at her, both knowing how untrue that was.

 

Next chapter is called: Testing the limits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, let's try something different.
> 
> !!!I'm on Discord, and I'm inviting everyone!!! 
> 
> HERE IT IS! https://discord.gg/cg4p4ps
> 
> Please, bug me!! Talk to me about my stories, tell me about your stories, discuss Undertale lore or, hell, tell me what the weather is like! Point is, I want to meet new people (and tumblr was sort of 'meh')!!!
> 
> I WILL be online at 23:00 Saturday, the 6th of Jan, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 07:00 Sunday,7th of Jan and (UTC), for at least an hour. Use this to figure your times (I had to =)- https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
> 
> I'll pop in and chat whenever I'm online, but these times might become a weekly staple...or changed, who knows?
> 
> Soooo looking forward to meeting you properly and, be warned, I may cry if I hear people saying all the nice things you guys continually keep giving me.


	8. Testing the limits

Sans knew that Undyne lived a fairly busy schedule. As head of the Royal Guard, Undyne’s days were filled with guard duties for the royal family, meetings with human law enforcement and policymakers. He knew all this because Papyrus had officially been added to the Royal Guard, a few months after they had all managed to escape from the Underground, and he loved talking about how busy and fulfilling his life had become. Papyrus, his cool and so very proud brother, had been assigned to mostly defence and ambassador work, making him the ideal royal guard in public light work, something he was sure Undyne had assigned him to so that she didn't have to do it.

In fact, it was Undyne who had suggested that the ‘mascot’ of the monsters adopt a bitty, to help encourage other monsters to consider adoption and ease the concerns of the humans. Sans had supported the idea, if for no other reason than Papyrus had been moved to tears after Undyne had hinted that bitties could do with the additional support. Ever since he had heard about the bitty fighting arenas from Tina, he had questioned the timing of that idea.

Sans, meanwhile, had resumed some casual work with Alphys in the new, above grounds labs. He had his reasons for doing so, even as his brother had been overjoyed with him engaging in what he called ‘real work’. It had been nice to reconnect with Alphys after all these years, but his desire to return full-time probably would never return.

Between what he heard from Alphys, and Papyrus had heard from Undyne herself, Sans knew the best place to find her would be the monster headquarters, either down at the sparing area or her office, sparing with her frustration at bureaucracy gone mad.

Sans grinned, leaning of a lamppost outside the royal purple building and watching humans and monsters walking into the building in the late morning light. Normally, if one wanted to see Undyne at work, you had to first book an appointment and wait.

He, of course, had his own shortcuts to by-pass such a system.

Pushing away from the pole, Sans walked towards the building, heading to the ally next to it. Gathering his magic, he felt for weak spots within the building as he scooped out an area fairly devoid of souls. Finding a perfect place, he released his magic, passing through the void and emerged in an empty meeting room.

Now that he was in and passed the front security, he knew he would have an easier time getting people to answer his questions about where Undyne was, particularly if he looked the part.

Picking up a nearby vase with some flowers in it, Sans proceeded to leave the room and begin the task of tracking Undyne down.

_‘how nice would it be to tell tina how the sick bastard responsible for all her pain had been brought to justice?’_

~*~

Tina had a poor night of fitful sleep. Anyone else would have assumed it was because she was anxious about Sans’s answer, but the truth was she was just anxious. She didn’t like unknowns; there had never been good surprises in her life. The fact that her life, as it was right now, wasn’t firmly established, kept her from a restful sleep.

"Tina?"

She looked away from the bitty children eating their breakfast to see Mama Cry offering her a bowl with a bitty-sized spoon in it.

Mama Cry lowered the bowl, placing in just next to her. “Eat something, please?”

Tina shook her head and continued to watch the other bitties from the table top.

Sighing, Mama Cry lowered herself so she was more on her eye level, blocking her view of the children.

"Are you worried about Sans?"

She shook her head. "Just not feeling hungry, that'll all."

"Shouldn't you be worried?"

Tina looked at Mama Cry in surprise.

Mama Cry lowered herself onto the bench, resting her head on one of her soft paws. She looked down at her, her eyes full of concern. "I guess I'm just surprised that you aren't more affected by the idea of adoption. Particularly since I know this hasn't been easy for you."

"I-I didn't say that" Tina replied, quietly.

She looked up at Mama Cry's shocked expression, smiling softly. "I'm sure he's just running a bit late. I did say he could take his time thinking this through, which is exactly what I wanted in the first place."

"You know that there's a good chance he's just hunting Undyne for more information?"

"There's also an equally good chance that he's just running late." She shrugged. "I'm going to wait here, drawing, and wait for Sans to arrive. After all, there's nothing I can do, is there?"

She didn't understand why Mama Cry was suddenly looking at her very sadly.

~*~

"you don't know where she is?"

Sans looked at stern human secretary sitting outside of Undyne's office. He already knew she wasn't inside of it, wasn't in the sparing ring and that no one had seen her today or knew why she wasn't here. In fact, as one monster had told him, it was unusual for her not to be here at all.

The human shrugged and Sans noticed how their finger moved slightly under the desk, subtly moving towards a security button he was sure was hidden there.

Smiling, he waved good naturally, gently placing the flowers on the secretary's desk. "that's a shame. mind passing these along to her when she gets in?"

"Who- who do I say that they're from?"

Sans grinned, "tell her _thistle_ cheer her up. she'll know who it's from."

Turning to leave, Sans walked away from the baffled human with a huge grin and exited the building, using one of his shortcuts. Once outside, Sans smile fell as he rethought where Undyne could possibly be.

_'Perhaps Paps will know?'_

It was worth a phone call.

Pulling out his phone, he noticed the time and saw exactly how long that futile search had taken. He had intended for this to be a relatively quick visit. A literal pop in and pop out.

But if he intended to hunt down a public figure who just happened to suddenly vanish off the face of the planet...

Sighing, Sans pulled up his contacts and selected the Bitty Adoption centre.

“Hello, this it Mama Cry’s Bitty adoption Center, Mama Cry speaking. How can I help you today?”

"hi mama cry, it's sans."

"Sans! Where are you?"

He looked around the empty street, "i'm just running a few errands."

"Is that so?" Her tone was disbelieving.

"i'm calling to ask if you could pass along a message to tina?"

She sighed. "It would be better if you talked to her yourself Sans."

Sans watched as Doggo, Undyne's right hand, exited the building. "it's just a quick message. please, mama cry?"

She sighed heavily, "Fine, tell me the message."

"i'm running late and i still plan to come in today, i just don't know how long i'll be. as soon as i'm done, i'll be there."

"And what, exactly, are you doing Sans?"

Doggo entered a taxi he had managed to hail, climbing inside. "sorry, i've got to go."

He quickly ended the phone call before she had a chance to reply, sure he would hear about it from her later.

Sans watched as the taxi took off, heading deeper into the city.

There was a very good chance that Doggo was heading for the same area that Undyne happened to be today. Failing that, if he couldn't talk to Undyne, he knew the next best monster to ask questions.

Gathering his magic, Sans prepared to follow the taxi through severely, exhausting short-cuts

~*~

“Tina?”

Tina looked up to see Mama Cry walking towards her, pass the bitty interaction area. Figuring that she probably had news about Sans, she closed her sketch pad and waited for her, expectedly.

Mama Cry sighed, lowering herself onto the nearby bench once again. "Sans just called me to tell you that he's running late and that he'll be here as soon as he can."

"So you were right about the Undyne thing."

Tina returned to her sketch pad, looking back over the children she had been previously sketching.

"You're not mad?"

Tina looked up in surprise. "No? Why should I be? He has every right to find out as much as he can."

"What about your rights Tina?"

Tina placed down her sketch pad, thoroughly confused by this conversation at this point. "My rights? What about Sans seeking more information has anything to do with my rights?"

Mama Cry growled in barely continued frustration, "He's seeking information about your past Tina. He's doing it after he swore he'd respect your rights as an individual and all without asking for your permission!"

"But he doesn't need my permission, and I trust him to do the right thing by me." She patted Mama Cry's clenched paw, "After all, he's done so much for me already. Look at all the conditions he's prepared to agree to!" Tina picked up her sketch pad again, flipping back to her unfinished drawing. "I'm not worried, I'm grateful!"

"Goddammit Sans!" Mama Cry hissed under her breath, watching Tina sketch again.

~*~

“come on doggo. i know you know where she is. i just have to see her quickly.”

Sans stared in exasperation at the most stubborn dog monster he had ever met! If it had been any other member of the dog guard, he would have options. But Doggo...

Doggo continued to puff on his dog treat, his arms firmly folded. "Even if I knew where she was, I wouldn't say. If our pack leader wanted to be found, you'd be finding her right now."

Giving up, Sans instead leaned back into his side of the booth.

"fine, then what can you tell me about the night you raided the bitty fight rings?"

Doggo narrowed his eyes at him, "What do you know about bitty fights Sans. Never pinned you for-"

Sans waved a hand, "it's not like that. i'm actually helping mama cry with one of the bitties you saved."

"We didn't save nearly enough" muttered Doggo, taking a deeper, long pull from his treat. "You say Mama Cry needs help? Then she should know how to contact Undyne. Why she sending you?"

_'Mama Cry knows how to get into direct contact with Undyne?'_

Sans shrugged, "she hasn't been able to get in contact with her since this morning and i've offered to get her answers since she's so busy running the centre."

Doggo glared at Sans for a long time, before putting out his treat in the restaurant's provided ashtray. "I don't know much about that night, not unless you want details about the failed raid."

"i thought you managed to get all the owners?"

Doggo scoffed, "Three or four of the bastards managed to escape, leaving behind their dead 'merchandise'." He spat out that last word.

"where are they now?"

Doggo shrugged, "Some went to jail, others banished. Not too sure about details beyond that though."

"no names?"

"No names."

Sighing in disappointment, Sans asked, "what else happened that night?"

Doggo laughed bitterly, "Beyond the bitty owners giving up pretty quickly after many of them failed to escape? Not much. Never knew much about the raid beyond the planning it anyway. Didn't know where the information came from in the first place or what information the owners gave up to lessen their punishment. All I know is that Undyne and the King and Queen worked really closely with that case and that they seemed insistent that no one know anything about it."

Doggo stood up, "And I'm sure that no one knows any more about that case than myself and Mama Cry." He patted his shoulder. "Sorry I couldn't be a bigger help. Tell Mama Cry I'm sorry and that I hope she hears from Undyne. If I happen to see her, I'll make sure she knows."

Sans looked up at Doggo's selective eyes, "thanks."

With a final nodded, Doggo left, conveniently leaving Sans to pay for his tab.

Once he and paid off Doggo's bill, Sans pulled out his phone and looked at the time. The workday was quickly ending. That meant, as a final attempt, if he swung past Undyne and Alphys's place, he might be able to catch her as she made her way home.

But first, he needed to make another call.

Sighing, he dialled Mama Cry’s number again and waited for her to pick her up.

“Hello, this it Mama Cry’s Bitty adoption Center. How can I help you today?”

“mama cry, it’s sans again”

“Where are you?!”

Before he had a chance to answer, she spoke again, “Stop, I don’t want to hear whatever lie you planned to tell me to keep me guessing that you’re still looking for Undyne.

There was silence from both ends.

“Sans, I warned you. I told you not to fixate on the past! And what do you do?! The very next day, you're out there and completely ignoring my advice!”

“you don’t understand, i’m just trying to-“

“No! you don’t understand! Do you have any idea the serious damage you’re doing to your relationship with Tina right now?!”

“damage?” Sans asked, completely at a loss about what Mama Cry was talking about.

“You don’t see it.” She whispered, horrified

“look, i know that you aren’t happy with me, but trust me, i know what tina needs. she needs closure, needs to know what happened to her and why. otherwise, this will always haunt her, keeping her trapped in her past. how can she be expected to move on when there are so many questions she doesn’t know the answers too?”

He waited for her answer, checking his phone’s screen to make sure they hadn’t accidentally been disconnected.

“You-You” she struggled to answer.

“YOU SELF-CENTRED, EGOTISTICAL JACKASS!!!”

Sans held the phone away from his ear, the speaking crackling with the volume Mama Cry yelled at him.

"Why don't you spend less time thinking about your own, self-important ego, develop just the barest amount of empathy for others and worry about someone's else needs for a fucking change!?!"

The phone call abruptly ended, leaving him staring blankly at his phone.

He was at a total loss at what damage he was supposedly doing, shocked stunned that the sweet, gentle Mama Cry had actually cursed at him.

He could understand why she was so angry with him though. No one liked having their advice ignored. As for the supposed damaged though…hadn’t Mama Cry told Tina he was still on his way, that it was taking him longer than he expected to get these answers? He was sure she was mad about him ignore her advice, but she seemed to be implying he was actively hurting his relationship with Tina by helping her get the answers that must surely be on her mind every day and night.

Ultimately, it came down to what he knew; very few monsters had suffered as he had suffered through at the hand of Frisk and the Rests. If there was one thing he knew, it was that closure helped start the healing progress while unknown answers  were often left to fester the mind and weigh heavily on the soul.

Whatever had her so worked over could wait; Tina was more important and getting these answer for her was more important than getting that answer from Mama Cry.

~*~

Tina sat on Mama Cry’s shoulder as she moved around the centre, cleaning and performing her basic duties that keep this place together as she closed the centre for the day. She often joked with Mama Cry that the only thing stopping her hiring new help was that she would probably take over their chores as well, unable to stop herself.

When the phone rang, she quickly jumped off to allow Mama Cry a small room of privacy. It was a routine thing she did whenever she spent a day with her.

Mama Cry smiled gratefully down at her before she picked up the phone and answered the call in her most sweetly voice. “Hello, this it Mama Cry’s Bitty adoption Center. How can I help you today?”

Her brow furrowed as she listened to the reply

“Where are you?! Stop, I don’t want to hear whatever lie you planned to tell me to keep me guessing that you’re still looking for Undyne.”

There was silence as Mama Cry glared at a nearby wall. Tina merely watched on; they both already had guessed at what was really keep Sans.

_'Guess we were right.'_

“Sans, I warned you. I told you not to fixate on the past! And what do you do!? The very next day, you're out there and completely ignoring my advice!”

Tina stared openly at Mama Cry, her tone was unlike anything she had ever heard before! Who knew this quite monster actually had it in her to yell at someone?

“No! You don’t understand! Do you have any idea the serious damage you’re doing to your relationship with Tina right now?!”

“Damage?” Tina asked, confused.

Mama Cry’s eyes widened, staring at her in horror, further confusing her “You don’t see it” She whispered, horrified.

For a long time, she stared at Tina, her gaze searching as she listened to whatever Sans’s response was. As she listened, her expression grew angrier and angrier, her expression thunderous by its end. Concerned, Tina walked over to her paw, patting it in an effort to calm her a little.

She met Mama Cry’s horrified eyes with a huge smile, “It’s okay Mama Cry. Sans knows what he’s doing. I trust him.”

“You-You” Mama Cry stuttered. She violently tore the phone away from her long ear and yelled into the receiver with all her strength and anger “ YOU SELF-CENTRED, EGOTISTICAL JACKASS!!! Why don't you spend less time thinking about your own, self-important ego, develop just the barest amount of empathy for others and worry about someone's else needs for a change!?!"

Mama Cry threw the phone down, the sound of plastic in distress puncturing the end of yelling fit.

Tina stood back from her, actually scared of Mama Cry for the first time.

"M-Mama Cry?" she asked, tentatively.

Mama Cry looked sharply at her, her eyes instantly softening when she noticed Tina's cowered position. Slowly, she lowered her head, rest her head on top of her folded arms.

"Please Tina, tell me you can see what's wrong? Tell me that you understand why I am so mad at Sans?"

"Be-because he's late?"

Mama Cry face fell as she smiled sadly at her.

"Yes, I'm angry because he's late." She stood up, gently patting her head. "It's okay Tina. Everything is fine."

Somehow, Tina didn't believe her.

~*~

Sans waited with Alphys in her shared home with Undyne, quietly watching an anime show. Alphys hadn't wanted to let him in, and it seemed to him that she had been expecting him to show up, but after Sans had pleaded his case, she had reluctantly relented.

The two monsters sat on the couch, in front of the television, but neither monster paid much attention to it. For Sans, he alternated between looking at his phone for the time and pretending he wasn't thinking about the time. Alphys, meanwhile, worried she had done the wrong thing by letting Sans in.

The sound of the front door closing behind them drew both of their attention away from the colourful show. When Undyne immediately saw Sans, her eyes narrowed in dislike and barely contained anger.

“So it’s true, you really can’t take a hint.”

He smiled, “i have no _eye_ -dea what you’re talking about. i just came over to see some friends.”

Alphys instantly jumped up, her shaking hands fumbling with the remote as she attempted to turn off the television. “Undyne! I-I’m s-s-sorry! S-Sans said he j-just w-w-wanted to ask s-some questions and I-“

Undyne walked over to the stuttering monster and gently lifted her into a hug, stilling her. With more care than Sans thought she had, Undyne gently patted the quivering monster’s back, humming softly.

“It’s okay babe. I’ve known he might have been after me all day today and I’m really not surprised that, after so many hints, he’s decided to invade our home.” Undyne glared at him over Alphys shoulder, her eyes promising retribution.

He sighed, pushing himself up from the couch to face the monster couple, one sitting on the hips of the other. “look, i just have some questions i really need the answers to and then i’ll go.”

Undyne seemed to inflate, her entire body swelling with thunderous anger. “And since have you been in any sort of position to demand answers?!”

“please undyne, it’s for a friend.”

She calmed, if only slightly.

“That dangerous adult bitty, right? The one I said to destroy?” She ignored the pointed glare he aimed at her.

Gently placing Alphys back on the ground, she strode off towards the kitchen. As Sans and Alphys stood there, awkwardly, they could hear the sounds of teacups and a kettle whistling coming from the kitchen. Before long, Undyne came walking back out, a trap between her webbed hands. With what might have been more force than necessary, she shoved the tray onto the coffee table before helping herself to a cup and some tea. She dumped herself into an armchair, taking a long drink from her cup with her eyes firmly closed. Once the cup was empty, she seemed to have calmed down, because she opened her eyes and motioned for Sans to join her.

While he made a tea he wasn’t particularly interested in having, Undyne turned her attention to Alphys. “Alphys, Sans has some questions about that night we raided a bitty fight ring.”

“The night you came home covered in b-blood?” she asked, in a quivering voice.

Undyne nodded.

Alphys swallowed, before she quickly turned and fled the room.

Sighing heavily, Undyne rubbed the back of her head, before throwing Sans a heated glance, Pointing a finger at him, she hissed “Let’s get something straight right now; I’m not telling you shit! You’re not someone I answer to and there are going to be a lot of answers you’re simply never going to get the answers to. Understand?”

Sand placed his cup on the coffee table, the pretend atmosphere of a friendly chat effectively over with. “undyne, i’m not-“

“I don’t care what your reasons are! You’re just not going to get a lot of answers out of me. Period. So unless you want to try your luck with either the Queen or King, the only other two individuals who know anything about this particular incident, you will just have to accept my vague and uninformative answers. To be frank, Mama Cry, I’m quite sure, has told you more than I ever would of.”

He sighed, suddenly remembering how stubborn Undyne could be when it came to her duty. The fish was unusually tight-fisted and a bit emotionally constipated when it came to herself, but even then she had some give. Right now, looking at her, he would have a better chance talking to the wall than trying to get information that she was unwilling to share.

“okay undyne. first question; where is the previous owner?”

“Pass.”

He stared at her, watching as she made herself another tea. Noticing his silence, she looked up at him, an eyebrow cocked, “What, did I stutter or something?”

“what do you mean, pass?”

“Exactly what it means; I’m not answering, next question.”

Sans growled softly, but shrugged and continued. “fine, then what was their punishment?”

“Community service.”

He jumped up, magic flowing freely from his eye, “community service?!”

Undyne continued to calmly sipping her tea.

“how can the punishment for something so heinously evil be community service?!”

“Because the whole incident was more complicated than I think you’re giving it credit for.”

Sans gaped at her, till he thought about what exactly could stop the monsters from handing out punishments.

“i-it was a human who did it, wasn’t it? monsters can’t punish humans, not without causing problems between our two governments.” He looked at her, “that’s it, isn’t it? that’s what made this so complicated, why this human basically got away with murder and torture; because monsters have no jurisdiction over what humans do?” He stared at her, his eyes searching for the answer he knew she wasn’t allowed to give.

Undyne looked away, her fists clenched. “No comment.”

Sans nodded, taking her no answer for an answer.

_‘i always knew humans were damaged as a species.’_

He tried to not think about Frisk, and everything he had suffered at their hands. Not now that he had someone else who needed him.

Taking a deep breath, he asked “where is the little bitty child that shared the cage with the adult bitty?”

“Pass” she replied softly.

“she-she died?”

Undyne shook her head, looking back at Sans, “She’s still alive, but I’m not going to be telling you where she is. Particularly if you’re associated with her tormentor.”

“her tormentor? you mean tina?”

“I don’t particularly care what you and Mama Cry are calling the bitty that will revert the very moment it’s put under the slightest strain. The fact is, when we’ve been talking to the young bitty, she always claims she was most scared of the adult bitty, not the owner."

"but she-."

"I know Sans. But what can you do? Tell a child that their fear is misplaced? Make them fear the owner more?" Undyne shrugged, "The point is that bitty is currently being looked after, away from other bitties and especially that adult bitty."

Sans looked to his abandoned tea, at a total lost for words.

"I don't know why you, out of all people, have suddenly decided to adopt a bitty and I really don't understand why it's this bitty, out of all the bitties in the entire world, but I stand by what I said at Mama Cry's." She gave him a level look, "you would be better leaving that bitty alone. Personally, I'm not happy that she's around other bitties, especially children, but Mama Cry won over Toriel and I've had to accept that."

She stood up. "Now, get out of my house."

"undyne, i'm-"

"No, I get it, I really do Sans. But I can't pretend that this hasn't affected our relationship." Undyne looked towards the staircase that Alphys had disappeared to. "I don't think you really understand what that case did to me, and by extension Alphys." She looked back at Sans, "It was horrible, and I'm a veteran of violence. I interviewed that adult bitty's owner personally and no, I won't be telling you anything about that interview. Let's just say I can't even understand how someone can come back from that"

Sans smiled gently, "she's tougher than you're giving her credit for."

Undyne shrugged, "There's tough and then there's making assumptions." She met his stare, serious, "Don't make assumptions about her character Sans. It's dangerous, and not just to those around her either."

~*~

Sans knocked on the closed Bitty Center's doors, peering inside. Mama Cry glared at him, complete ignoring his sheepish wave, as she opened the door wide.

"mama cry, i'm-"

"I don't want to hear it Sans!" she walked away, gesturing for him to follow, "I can only hope that the damage can still be fixed."

Sans followed her to the bitty interaction area, to the sitting area with tables and benches. There sat Tina, finishing off a drawing, a familiar bottle of Sea Tea next to her. When she heard him approach, her face brightened and she closed the pad.

Sans returned her smile, sitting as close to her as he could.

"I'll just leave you two alone." Mama said, bowing herself out before throwing one final glance at Sans.

Tina watched her leave, heading back towards the front desk. "Sorry she's been giving you a hard time."

Sans chuckled, "she made it sound like you were in tears or something." He looked closely at her, "you are okay, right?" he asked, a slight edge to his tone.

Tina shrugged, before she looked at him, curious. "So, did you manage to find Undyne?"

He stared at her.

"you knew?"

She laughed, "Well, it was kind of obvious." She gestured him to speak, "So, what did you find out?"

"not as much as i would have liked." he looked quickly back at her, "but i know that knowing as much as you can will help you get closure, which will help you move past and beyond your previous life."

"Okay"

Sans stared, completely thrown off with how easily she agreed, particularly after the lecture he had received from Mama Cry. "y-you agree?"

Tina beamed up at him, patting his hand, "I trust you Sans" she stated, simply.

Sans smile grew and his soul felt lighter. Still beaming, he lowered his face so that it rested next to her. "not that i'm absolutely happy to hear that you trust me, but i am curious what i've done to earn your trust."

She smiled at him, resting her head on her hand as she sat before him, crossed legged. "Well, isn't it obvious? You're going to be my new owner, right?"

Sans soul stilled, but she continued, completely missing the mood shift, "Obviously you know what's best for me. After all, you've already treated me lightyears better than my last owner and you've allowed me a few conditions, which I've never heard of an owner ever doing for a bitty for. Oh!-" she laughed, "-you've also got all your memories intact, so that must mean you have insight that I'm lacking, so I feel absolutely confident and happy to let you decided what I need!"

Sans raised his head, staring at her, horrified. Quickly, he turned behind him to see Mama Cry watching from afar. When he made eye contact with her, she nodded gravely, before looking sadly at Tina.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Sans looked back at her, to see her looking up at him in concern.

For some reason, Sans's expression changed into the same horror that had warped Mama Cry's face all day, and Tina still didn't understand why.

Sans lowed his head till he was on her eye level, his face sombre "tina, i don't want to be your owner."

"Y-you don't. B-but I thought-"

"i want to be your friend, an equal.

She looked at her hands, "I-I don't understand. What's the difference?"

"the difference is that you get the final say with what happens in your life, not me."

She felt Sans's hand cupping her, his thumb gently rubbing her back. Startled she meet his gaze, "i messed up tina, but i swear to make it up to you and to do better from now on. even if you don't understand right now, just know that i am so sorry for today."

 

Next chapter is called: Healing takes time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man! This update cycle was harder than usual, and I think a big part of that is, as I get more readers, I'm getting more anxious? If you had told me that something like that was even possible, that I could get even more anxious, I honestly wouldn't have believed you. Not without asking if drug were involved.
> 
> Anyway, so, I'm still on Discord, and I've made being on for at least an hour, twice a week (2300 (UCT) Saturday and 0700 (UCT)Sunday) a permanent thing. So please, come chat! I'm still eager to hear from you. You'll also find hints about the next coming chapters to all my stories of there as well, so....there's that.
> 
> Hope to hear from you and I'll update at the start of February!


	9. Healing takes time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to Ace Silverstein, and their wonderful feedback!  
> Thank you for helping me slow down and showing me that I needed to explain further. Without them, this chapter would never have existed and I would have gone straight to the next! Hopefully, this makes the whole story flow just a bit better, which is always a good thing =)

“tina?”

Tina stirred from her sleep to the gentle tapping of someone knocking on her roof. Stretching with a yawn, she grumbled as the aching familiarity of her sore throat greeted her, once again, to a new day.

“tina?” Sans’s voice called above her again.

“Coming.” her voice croaked.

Sans paused. “you've got some sea tea, right?”

She smiled, “Yes Sans.”

“okay…..i’ll be out here….when you’re ready.”

She could feel her smile slipping; Sans’s tone and words were so much more cautious now.

After last night, after both he and Mama Cry had failed to properly explain what the problem was, Tina had gone to bed even more confused. They had tried to explain that it had something to do with her lack of decision making, but why should that be an issue? If she chose to allow others to make her decisions, surely that counted? They both had only looked more horrified at that reply and no amount of trying to explaining had swayed either of them.

She had hoped that a new day would help them see how overly sensitive they were being. However, if Sans’s reaction was anything to go on, today would be just as confusing for her as yesterday.

After gurgling her own thimble of Sea Tea, Tina quickly dressed and meet Sans outside. He smiled back at her, as normal, but something was off about his grin. “hi tina.”

“Hi Sans.”

He lowered his hand so that she climb on, lifting her to his shoulder. “so kid, what do you want to do today?”

She shrugged, adjusting her sitting position on his shoulder so that she was more sturdy “I’m not particular fussed. What do you want to do?”

“me? well, i was thinking-“

"Tina?"

Tina and Sans turned to see Mama Cry standing behind them, her soft paws clasped before her with a look of apprehension. When she saw that she had their attention, she coughed before focusing her attention on Tina “Tina, if you have no preference, might I suggest the outdoor play area?”

“Sure.” she replied slowly.

Mama Cry smiled gently, ignoring the glare that Sans threw her way. “Let me just gather the children and I’ll meet you and Sans outside”

Tina nodded and Mama Cry left, already organising the bitty children from a distance.

Together, Tina and Sans passed through the door that lead to the secure, outside play area. While both had seen the play area multiple times in the past, this was the first time that they saw it together and empty.

The outside play area was the envy of every child’s dream. While it was only just barely taller than Sans, its intricate, interwoven multi-coloured plastic splendid wasn’t limited by the same restrictions that normal playgrounds had. Because bitties were so much more durable than human children, and the playground allowed far more liberties. Not to mention that with a smaller size of bitty children came with more things that could be added in a tighter space. Slides that lead to other slides, ropes that passed through ventricle pipes, and even more pipes that doubled back and that expanded so wide that both walls couldn’t be touched at the same time or shrank to sizes so small that they forced you to crawl were just a few of the things that made every child happy when Mama Cry announced the day’s activities.

Of course, that meant that it fell to Tina to pull relucent children from the many pipes and slides. Fortunately, the mere fact that the adult bitty was on her way to get them was more than enough to make even the most stubborn child cooperate.

Mama Cry soon came out, herding a bunch of excited children, who bolted towards the play area the moment the door was opened. After making sure that there weren’t any immediate issues, Mama Cry looked over to where Tina and Sans sat, over by the outdoor benches, before making her way over to them.

“Tina, how are you this morning?”

She shrugged, looking up at Mama Cry from the bench tabletop, “I’m fine. Throat was a bit sore but I made sure to have my tea.”

Mama Cry smiled, before she nodded at the canister by Sans’s arm. “I see that Sans has brought along his canister filled with what I presume is Sea Tea?”

He nodded, “i’m not totally irresponsible after all.”

Mama Cry sighed, looking again to Tina. “My dear, I was wondering if you would allow me to steal Sans from you, just for today? “ She looked to him, “I want to apologise for yesterday and to explain myself.”

Tina looked between the two monsters, the tension from last night paled to what was happening right at that moment. “S-sure.”

Mama Cry smiled again, looking to Sans. “I would be most gracious to you if you could keep an eye on the children while I quickly get us some drinks?”

Sans nodded slowly and watched her retreating back as she re-entered the adoption centre.

Tina laughed, “She’s never that polite unless she’s super nervous! You should have seen her when the Queen of the Monsters came back to check up on me.”

Sans looked sharply at her, “toriel came back to see you?”

She shrugged “Well, I assume it was to see me. I mean, she did do other things, but I can’t pretend that she didn’t specifically ask about me.” She turned to face him, “Whatever she’s got planned to say to you must really have her fur in a twist.”

Sans leaned in towards her, lowering his head to her eye level. “are you sure you’re okay with her taking today? we can always do something else.”

She shrugged again, “I don’t particularly care, one way or another. I figure we always have tomorrow and if Mama Cry wants to apologise, then I see no reason not to hear her out.”

Sans sat back up, leaning into his chair, “so you’re happy to look after the bitty kids while we chat?”

“Someone’s got to do it.”

“And you do such a wonderful job too.”

They turned to see Mama Cry holding a pitcher of water, two tall glasses and a bottle of ketchup.

She handed the bottle to Sans, who took it slowly from her.

“how do you know i drink ketchup?” he asked.

Mama Cry laughed in earnest. “Sans, are you forgetting who your brother is? I am quite sure that there are people who have never seen you that know that you drink ketchup!”

She continued to chuckle to herself as she sat on the other side of the bench, pouring two cups of water. Placing one each before Sans and herself, she turned to Tina and pulled out a brand new bitty-sized sketch pad and pencil from one of her pockets.

She handed them to her, “Here you go Tina. I figured that if I plan to take all of Sans’s time today, you should at least have something to do.”

Tina took the sketch pad gratefully. “Thank you.”

Mama Cry returned her smile. “Whenever you get bored or wish to tag out, let me know, okay?”

She smiled, giving a playful salute “Aye captain.”

Still grinning, Tina jumped off the table and walked over towards the play area, sketch pad in hand.

“She won’t say anything.”

Sans looked over to see Mama Cry sighing softly to herself. Sensing that Sans was looking at her, she met his questioning stare sadly. “Tina,” she explained, “won’t say anything. Won’t even get bored. Not even if we left her there for the whole day.”

“what makes you say that?” Sans asked.

Mama Cry stared at him, her eyes calculating. After a long moment, she looked at her glass.

“I suppose I better start by apologising.”

She looked back at Sans. “I’m sorry for how I acted yesterday Sans. It’s not your fault that you don’t know what I do, and I’ve assumed too much, perhaps expected too much too soon.” She looked back to her glass, her face ashamed. “My only defence is that these past three days have happened very fast. Far quicker than anyone who knows Tina, like I do, could have ever been prepared for.“

She looked back to him, noticing that she had his absolute focus now. “I was hopeful, but perhaps that too, was a little ambitious of me. I can only hope that, by explaining myself to you, I can help heal some of the damage I’ve caused to you and Tina’s relationship. But please understand, I’m not a psychiatrist Sans, so I can only explaining things from my perspective.”

“things like what?”

Mama Cry leaned back, considering. “Have you ever noticed that, when asked, Tina is fairly agreeable? That she doesn’t seem to have a preference, one way or another?”

“only recently.” Replied Sans, comparing how Tina had been argumentive when they first meet and how she acted last night and this morning.

“Have you thought about why that is?”

He shrugged, “because she is an agreeable person? or it could be as simple she doesn’t care either way.”

“I believe the answer is that she doesn’t care, but I would hardly call it simple.” She sighed heavily. “With any other person, it would be safe to make that assumption, to not have to question someone’s shrugging off making decisions like she does.” She looked intently at Sans, “But with Tina, with her past, can you understand why her lack of care, her lack of answers, might indicate to lingering effects of her past abuse?”

Sans stilled, looking quickly over at Tina, his eyes alight with new comprehension.

“she was trained to respond to orders.” He whispered, horrified, “trained to have not any thoughts or opinions of her own.”

“I believe she did that to herself, Sans.”

He snapped his attention back to Mama Cry to see that she too was watching Tina sketch children playing. “She’s never gone into too many details about what she suffered at her tormentor’s hand, but on the rare times she talked to me about it, she always makes it sound like it was a choice she made. If I had to describe it, I would say it was like she gave up and decided to stop thinking and feeling as a means of distancing herself from her reality.”

She sighed heavily, looking back at Sans with a frustrated expression. “The problem I have now Sans is how much do I tell you? How much do I share with you what anyone would consider private information?” She looked to her clench paws holding her shaking glass, “How much do I say without risking that I’ll say something that will push you away or tell you something that Tina herself isn’t ready to share?”

There was a long pause.

“i still don’t understand why i got the treatment i did yesterday mama cry. why didn’t you just tell me? i would have understood and i would have stopped if you just explained it properly instead of giving me vague hints while yelling at me.”

Mama Cry flinched, but kept her eyes on her glass as her ears fell. “I- I was scared Sans. I am scared.” She admitted hesitantly.  “Scared of how little you seemed to realise and how much I assumed Tina had progressed.” She looked up at him, “But I’m hopeful too, which has clouded my reasoning and made me lash out when you didn’t get any of this without me having to explain it. I keep seeing your relationship as this perfect ending that someone like Tina deserves; a friend who can see beyond her past, who will accept her for the wonderful person I know she is, and who will be someone who will always instinctively know what she needs. Perhaps even offer her a chance to grow beyond what she is now and become a person who isn’t defined by her past that she had no control over.”

With a sigh, she continued “I’m not perfect Sans and I don’t claim to know what I’m doing here! But I had to decide early on if I should risk what peace Tina had found on the off-chance that you would be that happy ending. So, taking a chance, I allowed you to talk to her and what I saw was so promising, I allowed myself to believe that this would be easy, that she was completely healed and ready to move one. Perhaps you don’t see it, but you and the life you’re offering if you adopt Tina is just so perfect. I’ve made my hopes your problem and for that, I am sorry.”

She waved her hand towards Tina’s direction. “It’s easy to think as Ten as just being her history, but that’s wrong. Ten isn’t Tina’s past, she’s her foundation. And it’s easy for me, in turn, to forget that you haven’t been with Tina every step since she entered my adoption centre as Ten. For you, perhaps, Ten is just her horrible past; something to be overcome with knowledge and understanding. For me, I know the steps I had to take to get her here and I saw how easily she was starting to slip back into her old way” She stared hard at Sans. “It would also be so easy for you to guide her back to being Ten out of kindness, Sans. Effortless even.”

Sans glared at her. “how dare you! do you really think i would ever want tina to ever go back to the emotionally-dead creature that could kill on command without a thought?!”

“You would never give that order Sans, but make no mistake,” Mama Cry held firm, her gaze absolute “whether you said “Ten, jump” or “Tina, could you jump for me?”, the end results would be the same.”

There was another long pause.

“but things are different now.” Sans insisted. “she argued with me when we first meet and flat out refused to even consider adoption until recently! she doesn’t follow orders blindly anymore!”

“That may have been true at the beginning, but it’s not true now” Mama Cry looked sadly at him. “You’re not at all amazed at her sudden transformation from then to now? What has it been, three days since she went from never wanting to see you again to actually wanting to be adopted? I don’t mean to undermine your relationship, but that too, could be based upon her foundation as Ten.”

“how?” Sans asked, disbelieving.

“Whether or not she means to, I believe the moment she became open to the idea of adoption, she more or less began to consider you her new owner.”

“it’s not like that!” Sans growled at her, his expression distasteful.

“Then what was yesterday Sans?”

Sans shook his head stubbornly, his fists clenched “what about her conditions then? you can’t claim that ten would have ever insisted on conditions from her owner!”

Mama Cry shrugged. “I really don’t have an answer for that Sans! Perhaps it’s her attempt at finding herself an owner who would be more gently, perhaps it was the best she could do to try and make sure she isn’t trapped again, particularly if she viewed adoption as an inevitable. Or I’m wrong and she simply wanted to have conditions in an effort to make herself more comfortable with the idea of adoption.” She levelled her gaze at him, “But it doesn’t change the fact that we both know, if you cared to test it, that she would automatically agree with doing whatever you wanted to right now.”

Mama Cry sighed heavily “I’m not trying to blame you. After all, how do you think I found any of this out? It took me forever to realise her non-answers weren’t because she didn’t care, but because she truly has no wants, no self-interests. ” She looked up sadly at him, “The worst part about all this is that, because of her past, we will never know if she really doesn’t have a strong opinion or if she was conditioned to never have them at all. The point I’m trying to make is that we can’t risk it, can’t do things on her behalf because doing so keeps her from having to think about her own self-interests.”

Sans looked away, frustrated and quietly angry with himself that he hadn’t realised all this sooner. It was obvious in hindsight, but he realised now that he hadn’t wanted to think of Ten, the arena fighter, as having anything to do with Tina, a person he was coming to care for. Placing the two images side by side hurt his soul and was too familiar to himself.

Quietly, he asked “have you spoken to tina about any of this? explained it to her?”

“You’ve known Tina long enough now, I’m sure, to realise that she can be quite stubborn when she chooses to be.” Mama Cry chuckled quietly, taking a sip. “Frankly, I’m grateful for it, but it does make explaining something she refuses to comprehend a near impossibility, as I’m sure you noticed last night. Besides, Tina is more than capable of saying and doing the right thing and making it seem like she choosing, when in reality she’s defaulting to other’s preferences. For example, you know how she likes peppermint chocolate?”

Sans nodded.

“Consider what other flavours come in a typical chocolate box and the most likely flavour to be left last if you looked after children like I do.”

Sans groaned, throwing his head back while covering his eyes. “the chocolate that tasted like their toothpaste!”

“Exactly, and she’ll do the same thing whenever asked about what she wants. If she happens to know that someone else likes, then she’ll ‘choose’ that on their behalf.” Mama Cry smiled gently, “Watch her when she’s around Minty and I’m sure you’ll see it in action.”

Mama Cry finished off the last of her water while Sans continued to stare at the ketchup bottle.

“Look, as far as I’m aware, you haven’t actually said that you would adopt Tina, correct?”

He looked sharply at her to see her analysing him carefully.

“no.” he admitted slowly.

“Then take this time to seriously understand Tina, both as she is now and where she’s had to come from.”

Sans looked over to the play area, to where Tina sat sketching with a thoughtful look.

“i-i don’t know if i’m the best thing for her.“ He admitted with bitter regret, turning slowly to look back at Mama Cry. “i didn’t even consider the possibility that she saw me as her new owner, or that she might just be agreeing with me. i-i don’t want to harm her any more than i already have.”

“But you haven’t Sans!” Mama Cry leaned across the table to tightly grab one of his hands that tightly gripped the bottle, “I know that I said that you were yesterday and I am sorry! I let my fear get the better of me, but if I honestly didn’t believe that you were the very best option, I wouldn’t be trying to convince you so much right now! You should have seen her through my eyes when you two walked out of my office days ago! I saw everything I had ever hopped sitting on your palm! A therapist wouldn’t have been able to do that or help her now because but she doesn’t need help coming to terms with her past; it’s all she has! What she needs is someone to give her a future, someone who has nothing to do with the bitty fight rings.” She withdrew her hand and sat back “The tragedy of bitties is that they literally have nothing else other than the memories they make now.”

“and for tina, that means she has nothing but ten’s life.”

Mama Cry levelled a glare at him, hear ears flatting back. “Don’t say yes out of pitty Sans. She has a good life here and she’s come a long way from Ten and the bitty fights. Even you must be able to see that.”

They fell once again into silence.

“I- I can offer advice Sans. I-if you’d like.” Her face fell. “But the decision has to be one you want. Something you wish to happen and for no other reason.”

“what if it helps tina?”

She shook her head. “There are no guarantees that your adoption would help her and it would be doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Besides, you need to consider the possibility that she might always be selfless, no matter what we do.”

But Sans was remembering the night that he found Tina asleep in Minty’s house. Had she gotten there of her own volition? Had that been a sign that she was capable of self-interest after all?

With a heavy sigh, Mama Cry rose from the bench. “I suppose I better relive Tina of her duties. I’m sure she hasn’t noticed we’ve been talking for hours now.”

With a start, Sans pulled out his phone and checked the time.

Looking up, he noticed Mama Cry looking sadly down at him.

“she really didn’t say anything?”

“And she won’t. Which is why, when you ask her to do something, it’s so important to make sure it’s fair to her. She’s not beyond self-sacrificing or insisting that she needs to because of her past” She turned to leave, then seemed to decide something, because she turned back around, her phone out. “Sans, I’d like to give you my number. Feel free to call me if you have any questions or wish to ask me anything. It the least I can offer after all the trouble I’ve caused.”

“promise not to yell at me if i call again?” He asked with a cheeky grin.

Mama Cry didn’t notice the grin as she gasped in shock “I am so sorry that I did that and I hope that you can forgive me-oh!” Her ears fell, “You’re making fun of me.”

Sans smiled grew. “maybe.”

“Okay, I deserve that.” She handed her phone to Sans, who quickly added her to his phone “but I do hope you understand just how sorry I really am and how much I want to fix my mistake.” She took her phone back with a sad smile.

He nodded, pocketing his phone in turn. “no, i can see where you were coming from now. if i’m mad at all, it isn’t about your intention to purposely sabotage me or any doubts about you truly wanting to help tina.”

“Thank you Sans.”  Mama Cry smiled briefly, before turning away and walked towards Tina.

Sans remained sitting at the bench, looking at the ketchup bottle but not really seeing it. The last thing on his mind right now was food.

“Mama Cry said she’s finished apologizing to you”

Startled from his thoughts, he noticed Tina sitting before him, crossed legged.

Grinning up at him, her head resting on an arm, chuckling “I’d never think I’d see the day when I would successfully sneak up on you.”

Sans returned her grin, pushing aside his thoughts, “eh, guess i’m a bit _bone_ -tired.”

“You’ve already used that one.”

He waved the bottle. “think i need to _ketchup_ on my pun studies then.”

“That’s new. My _condiments_ to you.”

Sans gaped at her, before bursting out in laughter. “pfft, that was horrible!”

She folded her arms, puffing out her checks in mock irritation. “Like you’re one to talk!”

They laughed together, both of them unaware of the children pointing at them or Mama Cry watching from a distance.

After the moment had passed, Tian asked “So, do you have my answer or are you going to try and explain something to me all day?”

He looked at her, his eye lights searching.

“are you worried that i’ll say no?”

She hadn’t considered that.

“I-I.”

She looked away.

“I guess I just assumed the answer was only ever going to be yes.” She took a deep breath, “I asked that you think about this, so I guess I’ll wait till you have an answer for me.”

Sans leaned in closer to her, watching her intently. “you okay?”

“sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

“you’re gripping that sketch pad awfully tight.”

She looked down at her hands, noticing in surprise that she was currently twisting the sketch pad tightly. Looking up, she saw that Sans too was focused on her hands. She moved the pad behind her, away from his sight.

“Sorry.” she muttered quietly.

“why?”

She looked up, her expression lost. “I-I don’t know why.”

They stared into each other's eyes, each searching for answers that weren’t there.

Breaking her gaze, she looked at her hands and spoke softly, “Take all the time you need and I’ll see you tomorrow. Yes?”

“yea.” Sans agreed quietly.

Nodding, Tina stood up with her sketch pad and moved to the bench top, preparing to jump off. With a final look at Sans, she bayed him goodbye and jumped off, leaving him to watch her slipping pass the door that Mama Cry left conveniently open and back into the adoption centre.

~*~

Just as the first morning light began to stream into his bedroom the next day, Sans sat in his room, still looking at the bitty house he had already built for Tina months ago. Once he imagined adopting Tina, of actually inviting someone into his life, of welcoming specifically her, he had spent hours doodling idea and concepts. Pretty soon, he found himself window shopping for bitty furniture, criticising what he saw and deciding that he could make a better house.

Which he had done, more out of stubborn pride at first until it became hopefully anticipation. But as he now sat looking at it, his imaginings of what life might be like with Tina seemed naively simple now.

He had thought, with what he had gone through, that he knew how to help Tina like no other monster was capable of. That he might have found actually someone who knew the same pain that he couldn’t share with anyone else. Even learning what he did about Ten hadn’t changed his mind; it had only further convinced him how strong she had to be to survive and his hopes for himself.

Thinking about his own HoPe, Sans summoned forth his soul for what would be the third time doing so this night. As his soul floated before him, he saw yet again undeniable proof that today's revelations had a bigger impact than he cared to admit. Before today, his HoPe had actually been at 2, but now it sat at 1.5.

Before today, knowing Tina and what she had gone through had given him hope that he too could survive and move beyond his traumatic experience in the Underground. Her strength, her progress had actually inspired him in a way he hadn't thought he was capable of. Helping her had felt like he had been helping himself and he had desperately wanted to have such a courageous person in his life, by his side, if she would have him.

But now?

His arrogance, his reluctance to see Ten as not just as a past but a part of who she was, had shaken him to his core, leaving him with a lack of conviction that he once had whenever he thought about adoption and his capability to truly help her and himself. So many things he had just assumed had been turned on their heads, making him question everything he thought he once knew. Including his relatively new belief that people like them could truly recover. That they could ever live a normal life, devoid of nightmarish memories and linger scares on their psychic.

Who was he to assume that he could help her when he himself was still actively avoiding Frisk. How many gatherings with the Dreemurrs had he dodged or mentally checked out of now? Hell, even going to the lab with Alphys was only bearly tolerated and would have never happened if he didn't need access to some of the equipment.

As Sans pulled back his soul, letting it phase through his shirt, he looked over again to the bitty house. The question was: did Tina deserve someone as broken as himself?

Was he trying to help her or was he just trying to help himself?

Deciding, Sans pulled out his phone and called the newest contact number.

“Sans?” Mama Cry’s sleepy, slightly baffled voice come through his phone. “It’s nearly dawn.”

He took a deep breath.

“i’ve decided.”

 

Next Chapter is called: Every single step….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with the start of February marks the end of my spare time =( Don't expect bi-weekly updates....although, if I do get a chance to update, it will always happen on a Saturday!
> 
> !!!AND I'VE GOTTEN AMAZING FANART!!!  
> I'm not sure if I can share them (I really should have asked sooner!)  
> But!  
> As soon as I figure it out, I'm sharing them with the world! 
> 
> ALSO, I'm still giving hint pictures on the next chapter on both tumblr and Discord. You know, if you want another hint on the next chapter to go with the next chapter's title! 
> 
> On a personal note, I just want to explain a little bit about what these past two weeks were like for me:  
> Week 1: OMG, look at all the colours! I've got soo much water coming out my nose I should run a water park. Hey! How about if Y/n actually turns into a cat, but with the personality of a dog? That would be an AMazing idea for a chapter story!! I am so smart! Where's my Nobel prize?!  
> Week 2: Argh, I don't wanna write! I just wanna sleep and- OH why did my family come into town?!  
> ....so yeah
> 
> I've written this next part about fours times and I've finally decided I'd explain it using Undertale soul traits logic (cause, why the hell not!?).
> 
> For those how don't know, I consider myself having an Integrity core, mostly Patience soul. My Patience was fine, but my Integrity wasn't happy with what I was writing. The chapters were shorter than I planned, I didn't flesh out certain scenes as much as I wanted to and, overall, my writing FELT weaker this time around. The more I felt this, the less I wanted to write. Patience wanted me to delay the update but Integrity wasn't having NONE of that. I said I'd do something, I'm F-ing doing it! Patience rolled its eyes, but keep be ploughing on, keeping me from deleting entire sections and scrapping everything multiple times.
> 
> Now, don't get me wrong, I'm okay with these chapters, but a lot of self-criticising has soured this update cycle for me to the point that I don't think I could ever like these chapters, personally.  
> And that's okay!
> 
> I mean, I don't have to LOVE every chapter and there are bound to be favourites! So why can't the same be true for chapters I just didn't have fun writing?  
> It's okay to not be okay, okay?  
> Okay =)


	10. Every single step….

Tina had spent the entire morning with Mama Cry as she moved about the centre doing her various chores, waiting for Sans to arrive. Mama Cry’s mood could be best described as apprehensive, where all she would say was that she knew that Sans planned to come in and talk to her. Of course, Tina already knew this; after all, Sans had said as much yesterday. Still, she suspected there was more to that, if Mama Cry’s behaviour was anything to go on.

After yesterday, after saying goodbye to Sans, she had quietly hidden away in her room, finishing off a few of the sketches she had taken, particularly of the ones that a few of the braver children had asked her for, thinking.

_“are you worried that I’ll say no?”_

Sans words had kept floating back to her all night, and she still had no clear answer. Even now, as she sat on the soft shoulder of Mama Cry, watching her playfully tickle a sad bitty child in her paws, she felt oddly numb to the idea of rejection. Shouldn’t she at least care, that the idea of either rejection or acceptance having some sort of impact?

All that she knew, all that she felt was whatever Sans’s answer was would be beyond her control, making her view the upcoming meeting with impassiveness. If she had to describe it, it almost felt like the whole experience was happening to someone else, and she was neither invested or involved with whatever the outcome might be.

“Are you okay?”

She looked over to see Mama Cry looking at her, mildly concerned.

“Of course I am,” she replied, “why do you ask?”

“I never seen you watch the front door so intently before.” She said, gently putting down the child back into the bitty play area.

Before Tina could reply, the front door slid open and in walked Sans, his hands in his jacket’s pockets.

In that instance, she suddenly felt a both a deep, gut-retching sense of dread and a brief flash of joy at seeing him again. Both sensations greatly startled her, actually making her question the numbness that had been her reality for so long, and her true emotional state of mind.

“hello mama cry.” Sans greeted, moving closer. His eyes slide to hers and he smiled softly, “hello tina.”

Tina couldn’t reply, still thoroughly confused by the burst of such strong, counter-emotions that had left her reeling. So it fell to Mama Cry to slightly bow her head in greeting. “Hello Sans. How are you today?”

He shrugged, still eyeing Tina in somewhat concern. “i’ve been better. didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Mama Cry chuckled, “As I well know.” She indicated to the door leading to her office. “I guess we should settle this sooner rather than later.”

Sans nodded and followed Mama Cry, closing the door behind them. She gestured to the spare chair in front of her desk, before moving to sit in the chair behind it. As Sans settled into his chair, Mama Cry bent and pulled out a canister of Sea Tea, pouring a thimble of it before handing this to a still disturbed Tina, who took it absent-mindedly while still sitting on Mama Cry’s shoulder.

There was a moment of pause as no one was willing to bring up the topic that was at the foremost of all their minds.

Clearing her voice, Mama Cry said, tentatively, “Well, I guess better start by explaining what happened yesterday.”

She lifted a paw to Tina, who quickly sat on the soft paw, before lowering her gently to the table top. Tina looked up at Mama Cry while she sighed heavily. “Yesterday, as well as apologising to Sans for my behaviour the other day, I briefly explained the process you and I had to go through to get you from Ten to Tina.”

Tina flinched, as she always did whenever the topic of her past was brought up in front of her.

Mama Cry continued, “Beyond stating several things, I think I helped to make it clear for Sans that, although you have come really far my dear and you have shown incredible strength, your past has not left you unscared.”

Sans nodded, meeting Tina’s eyes, “i saw signs of this strength when i first met you, particularly on the day minty got adopted by papyrus, and every day i came to see you, all i could see was someone who had overcome the odds and triumphed over a nightmarish past, and i-i greatly admired and envied that strength. coming to know you, meeting you every day, all i wanted to do was to have you in my life, to adopt you if i could.“ He sighed, “but i hadn’t thought about the possibility that your past has had some linger effects of you, effects that have left a permanent change. i know you’re aware of some of them, but i’m also sure that were are some that i don’t believe you’re aware are effects.”

Tina didn’t argue with that. How could she, when the two monsters she trusted both seemed to share that opinion?

“you asked me, back when i asked to see you on the day after minty’s adoption, why i wanted to adopt you?” She nodded, waiting for his answer, “that was what i saw and felt after watching you, and that alone would have made any monster want to know you better, but i also had an additional reason for doing so.” He sighed heavily, looking away, “i, um, had a pretty bad time in the underground, worst than i care to admit. i’m not proud to say this, but helping you with getting information from undyne had felt like i was indirectly helping myself, that i was being useful, for once.” He clenched his fits, looking back at her, his gaze searching, “i always wanted to know what happened in the underground, the knowledge that i might never know keeps me from really accepting that we’re not still trapped. to this day, i spend a lot of my time looking for answers, living in fear that i’ll just wake up in the underground again.”

Mama Cry nodded, empathically. “Many monsters, particularly those who lived to see our race get banished, suffered greatly Underground. I’ve heard a number of them are still having trouble adjusting, even to this day. The idea that we could be bashed again and have to rely upon a human to free us again is a common and shared fear amongst the monster community.” She sighed sadly, “We never did figure out how to break the barrier for ourselves.”

Tina nodded, but something about Sans not quite meeting her eye told her she wasn’t getting his whole story.

“i have a past too tina, and i felt connected to you in a way i haven't felt with anyone else because of it. but that isn’t a good reason.” He lowered himself to her eyes level, serious. “tina, you should never have an owner. the fact that you believe that’s the right word to describe bitty adoption is more proof of what i was talking about your past and lingering effects.”

Mama Cry nodded, “Bitty adoption, particularly as all most all the bitties were once human children, should always be about creating new families.” She looked at Tina meaningfully, “Do you ever hear any of the children talking about their possible monster parents as ‘owners’?”

“But the monsters do own them.” Tina insisted, “The children are looked after and kept safe, like an owner should do. What’s the difference?” She looked up at them, frowning, “And why does what I call something matter?”

“The difference is the mindset to the terms Tina.” Mama Cry said, dragging her remaining hand through her hair, “Sans and I already tried to explain this to you the other night, but I’m starting to see that it’s something you need to experience for yourself before you’ll understand.”

“which is why i am here.” Sans said, during the attention back to himself. “i want to adopt you tina, but not while the difference between owner and friend confuses you. you deserve someone who will welcome you with all the love and care you need.” He looked away, “i, i’m not the right monster for that, not while i’m still struggling with my own past. it wouldn’t be fair to you, and asking you if you want to be adopted by me isn’t fair either.”

“Oh.”

There was silence.

“What happens now?” she asked, looking around, placing the still full thimble off to the side.

Sans looked way from his analytical gaze of her and her movements, to Mama Cry watching the pair sadly. “i still want to help you tina, to be your friend and be someone you can trust to help you whenever you need it, if that’s what you want. if you agree, i still want to visit you as often as i can, helping you understand the difference between friend and owner. with time and with as many different interactions with different monsters and people, that’ll i’ll help you with, it’s hoped that you’ll eventually reach a point where you’ll understand that friendship is yourself.”

He lowered himself back to her eye level, playing close attention to her every expression and movement. “i’ll keep helping you develop your social skills and i’ll keep my eyes open for the right type of monster who will help you in ways i just can’t. however, even if i’m not the right monster to offer what you need, i still want to help you, to be your friend tina.”

Tina looked away, instead focusing on the patterns she could make out in Mama Cry’s paw fur. She was vaguely aware of the two monsters watching her, but internally, she was thinking, struggling to organise her swirling thoughts into a comprehensive response.

It made sense he didn’t want her, that part was a given. In fact, she should be happy that he had come to his senses eventually. What was surprising her wasn’t what just appeared to be what he had learned about her, but rather what he had come to understand about himself. She already knew there was something off about Sans (and not just his insistence to keep seeing her). Something about him told her he was a hidden threat, someone with a dark past that made her fighting instincts flare back up.

Yet, despite that (or because of it, she didn’t know) she liked Sans, greatly enjoyed his company and could actually feel relaxed around him. Now, however, she questioned that feeling. What if she had only felt relaxed because he was dangerous, relatable? What if that feeling of connectedness was a bad thing? Had that just been her damaged side connecting with his?

She looked up, her decision solidifying as she watched the only monsters she trusted and liked watching her with so much care and concern.

If the two monsters she trusted the most were offering this, saying that this was in her best interests, then she trusted that opinion.

At least, she trusted them more than herself and her strange feelings that made her chest clench in pain.

Tina stood up from Mama Cry’s paw and walked over to Sans’s hand. She gently patted it, looking up into his surprised face.

“If you’re sure you still want to see me, then I’ll gladly accept your help…friend.”

Sans stared at her in disbelief, before his expression fell sadly. He lowered his head to her eye level. “i promise tina, i will help you understand what that word  truly means one day.”

~*~

And so life would return back to how it was before Sans had entered her life. In a way, she was relieved. Life for her lately had been in such a flux as the prospect of adoption had kept changing to no, to yes, to maybe.

With the final answer and a plan of action, perhaps she could look forward to a day where she felt normal and whole. It wouldn’t necessarily come from adoption like she had thought, but with Sans’s help, it might eventually happen.

She allowed herself that optimistic thought as she ate dinner by herself, in her usual place that overlooked all the children eating below her, all of whom were gathered at a table with Mama Cry, laughing and talking happily.

_‘Perhaps I can one day join them and not have them tense at my mere presence.’_

“I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN! NOT AGAIN!”

Startled, Tina looked to the front door to see Papyrus standing in the doorway, his scarf flapping behind him in the night breeze, Minty standing proudly on his shoulder.

“papyrus! stop, this isn’t your decision!”

Tina looked away from the posing air to see Sans angrily following his brother into the adoption centre.

“NOT MY DECISION? THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE WRONG BROTHER! I CAN DO WHAT I WANT! I AM AN ADULT!”

“What it the meaning of this?!” Mama Cry stood up from the table, all the bitty children falling into silence.

“We’re sorry Mama Cry,” began Minty, looking sheepish on Papyrus’s shoulder, “but when Sans told us what was happening with Tina’s adoption-.”

“OR LACK OFF!” huffed Papyrus, casting an angry glance over at Sans, who quickly looked away.

“-we just had to come over!”

“THAT’S RIGHT!” Papyrus pointed at Tina, “IF MY BROTHER DOES NOT WANT YOU, THEN I MOST CERTAINLY DO!” He ran over to her, ignoring her flinching as his face filled her entire vision. “TINA, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ADOPTION BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS?”

 

Next Chapter is called: Outside Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School sucks!  
> Sorry, it had to be said. I actually missed updating mid-way through, but I'm happy with these chapters!  
> Anyway, if you want to give fan art/stories....I love you. Seriously, here's my heart.
> 
> And if I’ve committed an ultimate sin and spelled one of my beloveds’ names wrong, or worse, forgot to include you (I’M SO SORRY!), please tell me!  
> See ya for the next update! (It’s close to April Fools, isn’t it? Hmmm)


	11. Outside Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now, I know that today is Sunday, but I wanted to do something fun for this day, so I thought, 'why not?'  
> And here we are!  
> Oh, and as an added bonus, I want you to ask yourself, 'Is this the first Saturday of the month?'  
> What's that? It isn't?  
> Huh, guess I'll have to update again when it is then, right? =)

Tina stared agape at the determined, beaming skull before her.

“You- you want to adopt me?”

Papyrus stood back, hands on his hips, “BUT OF COURSE! I’VE WANTED YOU TO JOIN MY FAMILY EVER SINCE I SAW YOU HUG MINTY GOODBYE ON THE DAY I ADOPTED HIM! AND WHEN SANS TOLD ME THAT HE WAS THINKING ABOUT ADOPTING YOU HIMSELF,” he quickly threw a glare at his brother, who looked away with a huff, before turning back to face her again, wearing a huge smile, “I WAS SO HAPPY! EVEN MORE SO AS, TIME PASSED, I SAW HOW HAPPY SANS WAS AND HOW MUCH HE WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO IT….NOW IT’S ALL I’VE EVER WANTED!”

“but it’s not what she needs.” Sans instead, looking at his brother sternly, “and you don’t get to decide that.”

“BUT I’M NOT DECIDING ANYTHING, I’M ASKING SANS! YET, YOU’RE ACTING LIKE I CAN’T EVEN ASK!”

“that’s because you don’t-“

“Okay, that’s enough!”

Everyone turned to see Mama Cry, walking around from the table, her ears flat against her skull. “There are children here and this is not the right location nor time to have this discussion! I suggest you both go home, properly talk about this some more, and then come back in the morning-“

“BUT THAT’S THE PROBLEM, THERE’S BEEN TOO MUCH TALKING!” Papyrus waved his arms around, “EVERYONE KEEPS TALKING AND TALKING, TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE BEST PLAN IS, AND NOTHING’S HAPPENING!”

“Papyrus, there’s a need to talk, for proper discussion and thought-through planning-“

“NOT WHEN YOU KEEP THINKING IN CIRCLES AND IT KEEPS YOU AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW!” He looked around the room, before looking directly at Tina, “NO ONE KNOWS WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE. THAT’S WHY WE NEED TO KEEP TRYING NEW THINGS! OTHERWISE, NOTHING CHANGES AND YOU’RE LEFT THINKING WHAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENT YEARS LATER! THE BEST PREPARATION FOR THE HARDSHIPS THAT ARE SURE TO COME IS DOING YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST TODAY!”

There was a moment of pause, before Minty started clapping and the bitty children quickly joined him, growing into a cheering applause

Mama Cry strode back towards the bitty children, “Okay, that’s enough! I want everyone in bed before I get to the count of 30 or there’ll be no playground time tomorrow! 30, 29-“

The children bolted (even Minty gave a little start before he settled back onto Papyrus's shoulder with a blush), leaping off the table and running towards the sleeping area. After giving a satisfied nod, Mama Cry turned to look tiredly at Sans. “I guess, if we are to have this conversation again, it should be in my office. Would you mind taking Papyrus there and waiting for me while I get the children into bed?”

Sans nodded, throwing Tina a final look before guiding his brother towards Mama Cry’s office.

“Tina?”

Tina moved towards Mama Cry slowly, still surprised by the sudden appearance of the skeleton brothers.

“Would you prefer to go to your room or you like to speak with Papyrus tonight?”

Tina stared back. “I- I’m not sure.”

“Well, I need you to make a decision, Tina” Mama Cry insisted.

Tina rubbed the back of her neck, the relieved feeling she had felt at finally putting this adoption issue to rest was gone now. She thought about how going to her room wouldn’t make it disappear, and how this issues would still be here in the morning.

With a sigh, she nodded and moved towards Mama Cry, who lowered her paw before her. “Guess I’ll at least see what happened, why the sudden change.”

“I, myself, would like to know.” agreed Mama Cry, moving Tina to her shoulder before moving towards the bitty sleeping area.

While Mama Cry told off the few stragglers and tucked each child in, Tina sat on her shoulder watching her perform her matron duties, thinking about this latest turn of events and just how unprepared she felt to deal with it.

~*~

“Before we begin, I want it to be known that I do not approve of how you’ve forced this meeting Papyrus.” Mama Cry said, closing her office door behind her, before moving to sit behind her desk.

Papyrus stopped in mid pacing to quickly sit in one of the office chairs. “I AM SORRY MAMA CRY, BUT I COULDN’T STAND WATCHING THIS ANYMORE! SO MANY WEEKS OF BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS FLIP FLOPS! OF SEEING SANS GO FROM HAPPY TO SAD, AND THEN HEARING THAT TINA WAS GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING AS WELL WAS DRIVING ME INSANE!” He looked quickly between a watchful Tina on Mama Cry’s shoulder to his brother, leaning against a wall with his arms folded behind him, “WHY CAN’T YOU TWO SEE THAT YOU’RE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER?! THAT YOU MAKE EACH OTHER HAPPY?! WHY IS THIS SO HARD?!”

“it’s complicated paps, as i’ve tried explaining to you, time and time again, yet you aren’t listening.” sighed Sans.

“IT’S ONLY COMPLICATED BECAUSE YOU’RE MAKING IT!” Papyrus spun around in his chair to look at Sans, “YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE THIS SANS! OVERTHINKING EVERY SINGLE, LITTLE DETAIL, AND BELIEVING THAT YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYONE’S HAPPINESS ALL THE TIME! AND THEN I FIND OUT YOU’VE CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT ADOPTING TINA, NOT BECAUSE SHE SAID NO, BUT BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE YOU’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER?!” Papyrus sprung from his chair and ran towards Sans, lifting him in the air, “HOW CAN YOU BE GOOD FOR ANYONE WHEN YOU DON’T BELIEVE YOU’RE GOOD ENOUGH FOR ANYONE?!”

Sans looked away, hanging loosely from his brother's arms, before Papyrus pulled him in and hugged him tightly, unresponsive to the hug.

“If I might say something Papyrus?”

Papyrus looked over Sans’s head to see Mama Cry lowering Tina to her desk.

“It’s complicated,” Mama Cry started, “for personal reasons about a horrible past that Tina has had to suffer through, none of which she needs to share with anyone here, especially with a child present.”

“Are you talking about the fights Tina had before coming into the adoption centre?” asked Minty, speaking up.

All eyes focused on him.

“WHAT FIGHTS?” asked Papyrus, confused.

Minty pressed himself closer to Papyrus’s neck, trying to make himself seem smaller. “Th-the fights that gave her all those scars.” he looked over to Tina, who stared back in shocked horror, "The fights you scream about in your sleep.”

There fell an awkward, tense silence over this revelation.

“Do the other children know?” Tina asked, quietly.

Minty nodded solemnly.

While Tina’s shoulder shagged, Mama Cry straightened, “Not the way I would have chosen to tell you Papyrus, but Tina has had a very traumatic past that makes adopting her complicated, as I’m sure you now understand.”

“I-I DIDN’T KNOW.” Papyrus replied softly, gently placing Sans back onto the floor.

“that’s what i was trying to tell you paps, but you-“

“AND YET, I SAW YOU, SANS, WALKING THROUGH OUR LIVING ROOM THIS AFTERNOON. YOU DON’T WALK, YOU’VE NEVER WALKED. SAYING NO TO ADOPTING TINA HURT YOU!”

“Yeah, and I saw how happy you were, Tina, when you decided to finally talk to Sans again!” Minty quickly added, moving away from Papyrus’s neck to beaming at her, “I’ve never seen you smile like that before!”

Papyrus sat determinedly back into his chair, folding his arms. “I AM SURE, NO MATTER WHAT HORRIBLE EVENTS HAPPENED TO YOU TINA, ALL YOU NEED IS THE STRENGTH OF GOOD FRIENDS AND THE LOVE OF OUR SIMPLY AMAZING FAMILY TO OVERCOME ANY OBSTACLE! AFTERALL, ANYONE CAN BE HAPPY IF THEY JUST TRY!”

Sans flinched violently, whirling to look at his brother's back, but Tina hardly noticed as Minty jumped off Papyrus shoulder and tacked her into a hug. “Oh, please say yes! You can come home with us tonight, if you want!”

“B-but what about my past?” Tina pushed Minty away, to look up at Papyrus with heartbreaking regret in her eyes, “I’m a dangerous, damaged bitty, who doesn’t understand the difference between what an owner and family are, not matter how much you try to explain it to me! No one should want me.”

“I want you Tina!” insisted Minty, tears gathering, “And I know you know what family is!”

She whirled on him, “No, I don’t Minty! Because there is no difference between the two! Not from where I stand!”

Minty flung himself back into her arms, burying his face into her stomach, “You’re wrong Tina! Because you’re my sister, not my owner! You’ve been my sister ever since I arrived here, scared, and you’ll always be my sisters, no matter what!”

Tina tried to step back, but Minty clung to her, his hug tightening as his tears soaked through to her stomach. After a while, Tina gently wrapped her arms around Minty’s body, absentmindedly stroking his hair and pointedly ignored the hollow feeling that confirmed that she hadn’t felt anything with his declaration of being a part of his family.

Who was she to tell this child that he had bounded with unfeeling, child-killing murderer?

Tina looked sadly up at Sans, who looked back with clearly conflicting emotions in his eyes. “What about setting me up with the right monster?” she asked.

“SANS IS THAT MONSTER!” Papyrus insisted brightly

But Sans shook his head. “no, i’m not paps.”

Papyrus scoffed, folding his arms and turning in his chair to look back at him, “WELL, UNTIL YOU’VE GOTTEN OVER THAT RIDICULOUS BELIEF, I’LL GUESS I’LL BE ADOPTING HER.” He turned around to beam at her “SURELY YOU CAN’T DISAGREE WITH ME ADOPTING HER? I’M THE BEST MONSTER WHO HAS EVER EXISTED!”

He winked at her, “AND I AM ALWAYS RIGHT!”

“Papyrus, do you know what it is you’re offering to do?” asked Mama Cry, analysing him carefully.

Papyrus posed, “WHY OF COURSE! I’M WELCOMING TINA INTO MY-“

“There’s far more to it than that.” Mama Cry said, speaking over him, “There are medical concerns that must be met, things you have to be prepared to do without hesitation, not to mention psychological issues, and ensuring that she is safe, both to herself and to Minty.  And none of that takes into consideration that Tina might not want to be adopted by you. It took Sans a long time to convince her to consider it, and she was only prepared to agree IF he agreed to HER additional, non-negotiable conditions.”

“Of course she wants to be adopted by Paps!” Minty declared, looking up at her from his hug, “I know that she loves me, and I love her!”

Papyrus beamed at Minty, before looking up at Mama Cry, “I’LL FOLLOW ANY RULES AND CONDITIONS TO THE LETTER!” he looked at Tina, “BUT I WILL ALSO RESPECT YOUR WISHES IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE ADOPTED BY ME.” He quickly lowered his face before her, “BUT YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT I WILL AGREE TO ANY CONDITIONS THAT YOU MAY HAVE, BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO BE A PART OF MY PRECIOUS, VERY SPECIAL FAMILY!”

Tina looked away from the sincere look of this monster she hardly knew. Instead, she looked between the boy whom she wanted to protect and the monster to whom she had trusted to help her, hoping he would do so now.

To say she was conflicted would be an understatement.

Sans was watching her very closely, and when he saw her looking at him, he stepped forward, sitting in the chair next to his brother.

“kid, i-“ he looked away, “i’m just as conflicted as you. i still want to adopt you, even if i’m not the right monster, but papyrus is such a cool guy, he’s basically the type of monster i was picturing when i mentioned finding the perfect monster for you.“ He chuckled bitterly, eyeing her from the corner of his eye, “but who knows if i’m not thinking of any cons about this because i’m selfish?”

“I WOULDN’T SAY THAT BROTHER!” Papyrus closed his eyes and nodded to himself, “I THINK IT’S MORE LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT THING TO DO IS, BUT YOU’RE MIND KEEPS INTERRUPTING.” He opened his eyes and beamed at Tina, “IF TINA COMES AND LIVES WITH US, I’M SURE YOU’LL SEE THAT EVENTUALLY!”

Tina looked away from Papyrus to watch Minty, who was watching her, his eyes sparkling with hope an apprehension, “Please Tina. Please say you want to be my sister, that you want to join our amazing family! I promise, you’ll never be alone and we’ll always love you!”

She stared back, before eventually sighing, looking up at Papyrus “I-I have a few conditions that you must agree to Papyrus.”

He looked absolutely delighted, especially as Minty started whooping and running in circles, cheering his heart out,

“NAME THEM.” he simply stated.

“Now wait a minute.” Mama Cry sighed, running a paw through her hair, “I'm not supposed to allow more than one bitty adoption per monster…”

Sans spoke up, “i’ll adopt minty if i have to.” He looked fondly at Y/n, “anything to make this happen. especially if this is something she's picking for herself.”

Tina shook her head, turning to look at Mama Cry in confusion, “But I shouldn’t even be in your data banks. You said-“ she coughed, her throat's irritation breaking through.

Quickly, Mama Cry poured her a thimble of Sea Tea from the canister she always kept in the room, handing the drink to Tina even as Minty was gently rubbing her back.

While Tina drank, Minty comforted her and Sans looked on with apprehension, Mama Cry looked to Papyrus, sternly.

“I guess we don’t have to play adoption musical chairs, especially seeing as how Tina is a rare, unique case and without a profile. However, I will be holding you personally responsible for her well being, not your brother. Are you prepared for that?”

Papyrus raised his fits, his expression determined, “I AM.”

Nodding, Mama Cry pulled out a pen and a sheet of paper, writing down a few points “You already know about Bitty Laws and proper care, you I know I don’t have to give you the pamphlets again. And I’m sure that Sans can fill you in on what looking after Tina actually means, these, however, are a few additional things that you need to be aware of and be prepared to do.”

She pushed the paper towards him, watching as he picked it up and read it.

“WHAT IS THE ‘CONTAINER’ AND WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE FULL OF SEA TEA?” he asked, looking up after reading it.

Sans quickly looked away as Tina passed the thimble back to Mama Cry, “I-i’ll explain once we’ve picked up an appropriate container.”

Nodding, Papyrus quickly looked over the note, before smiling at Mama Cry, “THESE ARE ALL EASY AND PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE THINGS TO DO AND HAVE!” He reached over and grabbed the pen, posing with the tip on the paper before looking expectantly over at Tina, “NOW, ABOUT YOUR CONDITIONS?”

“I must have a private room.” She looked to Minty, still hugging her side, “Somewhere where only I can get in. Somewhere I can lock others out.”

“WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR OWN HOUSE OR A PRIVATE ROOM IN MINTY’S?”

She started, at a complete loss as what her answer was.

“I-I don’t know.”

Papyrus nodded, making a quick note, before looking up at her, expectantly.

She straightened, “I have to know that you’ll listen to me and respect my wishes. This means, if I say I want to go, or if I need something, you have to do your absolute best to give me what I need.”

“EASY ENOUGH.” Papyrus made another note and ignored Tina’s taken aback expression.

“R-really?”

He looked up, confused, “OF COURSE.” He pointed Minty, “MINTY ASKS FOR STUFF ALL THE TIME. I MAY NOT ALWAYS GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS-“

“Even when I’ve been a good boy!” sulked Minty.

“-BUT I ALWAYS LISTEN AND TRY TO RESPECT HIS WISHES.”

To Tina, this wasn’t the answer she had been expecting. She had been expecting to be told what to do, to have her needs dictated to her by others. Whether that came from a new owner treating her like a trained pet or a child with no rights, it didn’t matter.

A lot of what she had been assuming had been changed in such a short amount of time.

“I-I also want a phone, a mobile phone, something I can use privately to call Mama Cry every day.” She looked over at her, checking, “Assuming I can call you, that is?”

Mama Cry nodded, before straining as she stared steadfastly at the skeletons, “I’ll be expecting a call for you everyday Tina, and if I don’t get it, I swear, I’ll come and collect you myself if I have to!”

Tina smiled, feeling better for her words that greatly helped settle her nerves.

But Papyrus seemed unphased, continuing to make notes without hesitation. “ANYTHING ELSE?” he asked, looking up.

She looked at him, unblinking, “I want- no, I need pins, sewing kit and some materials.”

“What are they for Tina?” asked Mama Cry, looking at her strangely.

“Do I have to answer that?” she asked, quietly.

“Well, no. but-“

“Then I’m not going to.” She looked up at Papyrus, “Those are my conditions.”

He stared at her, his eyes searching her face before looking to Minty.

Quickly, he stuck out a gloved pinky, positively radiating happiness.

“WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY, TINA!”

 

Next Chapter is called: A home


	12. A home

Tina looked to the offered pinky, to Sans watching her from behind his brother’s back, to Mama Cry off the side, before looking finally down at Minty, who was still clinging to her side, looking up at her with anticipating hope in his eyes.

Finally, she shook Papyrus’s pinky, before quickly dropping it, her head falling to the ground as she was unsure where she could look at more.

Clapping his hands, Papyrs stood up from his chair, looking around expectantly. “NOW THAT’S TAKEN CARE OF, I GUESS THE NEXT STEP IS COLLECTING ALL OF YOUR THINGS TINA.”

“Now hold up.” Mama Cry said, also standing, “Just because she’s agreed to your adoption, doesn’t mean she has to go tonight.” Her tone softened, “You have a choice here Tina. You know that.”

Tina shrugged, continuing to look at the table.

“Of course Tina wants to come home tonight! Who wouldn’t want to see their new room and live with their new family as soon as possible?!” Minty declared, looking up at her expectantly.

Tina smiled, stroking his hair softly as she eventually nodded.

She missed the look that Sans and Mama Cry threw each other.

Papyrus, meanwhile, had eagerly lowered his hand before her, giggling when she was tentatively lead onto his hand by Minty, who quickly scaled up Papyrus’s arm as Tina was left standing on his raising hand. “I GUESS I’LL TAKE YOU TO YOUR OLD ROOM TO COLLECT YOUR THINGS THEN.”

As he exited Mama Cry’s office, Sans and Mama Cry followed behind him, whispering a hushed and hurried conversation. As Tina watched them, Mama Cry eventually ducked off after Sans nodded to something she said, heading towards the kitchen. When he saw her watching him, Sans smiled gently and quickly caught up as Papyrus kept walking towards the bitty sleeping area.

“paps,” whispered Sans, “might not want to talk near the other kids sleeping, kay?”

As Papyrus quickly nodded and Minty did a ‘zipping’ motion to his lips, Tina whispered “Where did Mama Cry go?” She was suddenly feeling rather exposed on Papyrus’s hand now.

Sans smiled gently, whispering back “just had to grab something. said she’d be back soon.”

Tina nodded, before jumping off Papyrus’s hand to land on the sleeping area’s balcony, making her way to her room. Minty quickly jumped off too, leaping onto her back as he flung his arms around her neck, giggling into her ear. Smiling, she kept walking.

When she opened her door, Minty lept off and hurriedly grabbed random things from around her room, before looking around, quizzically. He looked over at her, to see her standing there with her arms folded, mimicking a bag before shrugging at her, still wearing a quizzical expression. Playing along, she mimed a backpack, before pointing towards the area she knew had bitty supplies, towards the sections he had probably taken the bitty bag from last time. Grinning, Minty nodded, dumped her stuff on her bed, before running towards the door.

She grabbed his collar as he passed her, lowering herself to his eye level and mimed silence, grinning as he saluted her, before speed walking out of her room.

Closing the door behind her, Tina looked around her room, noting that most of the stuff she owned was already on the bed; there was so little to her name. The only thing not there was a few custom-made pencils that were bitty-sized, and a few already filled sketchbooks…plus the one she kept hidden under her bed, of course. Reaching for it, she looked at the cover of the oldest sketchbook she owned, the one not yet completely filled but one she kept adding too with each new night terror.

How long ago had she added in a new page? That probably would have to be the nights that followed her Container experience with Sans. After that, she had added to this sketchbook almost every single day…eventually stopping when she saw Minty again.

…When she saw Sans again.

Tina wounded what was to become of her now? With Mama Cry and Sans more or less okay with this, she allowed herself to be swept up in the boisterous skeleton's excitement, simply happy to have Minty back in her life. Knowing that he would be there… it felt like she was finally getting her grounding back, and everything that had been up in air since the moment he had left the centre was, once again, settling.

Having him again….it felt like she had a purpose again, a goal…something else to focus on.

Also, knowing that Sans was there…and this whole thing was beginning to feel like her old life was coming back, only with elements changed around. The adoption centre would now be the skeletons’ home, Sans would keep an eye on her like Mama Cry used to and Minty would always be by her side….even if a tall skeleton was now added to that image.

Smiling at the thought, she wrapped the old sketchbook in one of her shirts, before getting the others.

This, all of this, was making her feel like all her uncertainties, self-doubts and uneasiness was finally at an end. Now things could finally go back to how they should be, back to how they once were.

~*~

When Minty returned with the now stolen bitty backpack, he helped Tina quickly pack all of her things, blushing when he had accidentally picked up her underwear. Laughing at the flustered boy, she had pushed him out so she could finish packing in peace, shouldering the bag and taking in one final look at the room that had been both sanctuary and her solitaire confinement in conflicting emotions.

_‘At least I won’t scare the children anymore. The Big Bad Bitty is finally leaving.’_

With that thought, she smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her.

The moment she was clear, Minty ran forward and grabbed her hand, swinging hands as the pair walked over to Papyrus and Sans, who were whispering to each other.

When he saw them, Papyrus broke off what he had been saying to Sans, mid-way, and instead lowered his hand before them. This time, Minty pulled Tina onto Papyrus’s shoulder, making her sit down next to him before wrapping his arms around her mid-drift, humming softly when she stroked his hair.

“AWWW!” whispered Papyrus, looking over at them.

With tears in his voice, he lowered himself before his brother and continued to whisper,  “LOOK AT THEM SANS! DON’T THEY JUST LOOK SO HAPPY! HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY BE A BAD THING?!”

“she does look happy.” admitted Sans, eyeing Tina, who nodded back, hugging Minty closer to her side.

“Tina has always been very closely attached to Minty” said Mama Cry, gesturing to the two skeletons to come over to her by the front desk. As they approached, she continued, “Just be sure that love doesn’t become obsession Papyrus. She needs to develop feelings for everyone else as well.”

“HOW CAN LOVE LIKE THIS BE A BAD THING?!” Papyrus asked, incredulously.

Shrugging, Mama Cry instead held out a shopping bag, filled with various things to Papyrus. He took it from her, looking quizzically at her.

“Sea Tea,” she explained, gesturing to the bag, “as well as a bottle I was using for her Container.” She looked over at Sans, serious. “Your brother will make sure to properly explain her specific needs and care to you, as soon as possible.”

He nodded.

Sighing, Mama Cry turned her attention to Tina instead, “Well my dear, I guess this it?”

Tina looked away, “Y-yeah.”

“Sans says that you can have his phone for this night, so I’ll be expecting that phone call from you Tina. Feel free to call me, whenever you need me. I swear to you, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

She nodded, unsure how she should be responding to this.

Mama Cry’s next words caught in her throat, and Tina quickly looked back to see the monster, hurriedly wiping away tears. “I-I know that I should be happy for you, but I’m scared.” She laughed tightly, “I can’t help but feel like something horrible is going to happen, a-and that I could have done more. But that’s just fear talking.” She smiled sadly at the skeletons, “If I didn’t absolutely trust these two to keep you safe, to help you Tina, I’d be throwing them out by the scruff of their necks!” She chuckled sadly at that and even Tina smiled at the very idea that this sweet monster being capable of such an act.

Lowering her hand before her, Tina quickly separated herself from Minty and stood up, standing on Mama Cry’s soft paw as she raised her to her strange and yet well-known red and black eyes, “I hope you have a wonderful life Tina, one that’s filled with love and understanding…and peace.”

Mama Cry pressed Tina to her already wet cheek, her gently tears rolling over Tina’s arms. After a while, Tina hugged her back, awkwardly patting the soft fur.

Whatever was to happen to her, wherever her path leads to next or however this ended, she owed everything to this monster, whose kindness had kept her alive….both from others who would have destroyed her and herself.

After a while, Mama Cry moved Tina away from her cheek and brought her back to Papyrus’s shoulder, ignoring the two skeletons who watched her with conflicting emotions.

Sniffling, Mama Cry straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath, before smiling weakly, “Now that I’ve said my goodbyes, I believe it’s time the skeleton family headed home.”

“mama cry-“ started Sans, but she overrode him.

“I think it’s best if we didn’t drag this out longer than necessary,” she gently guided the brother out of the centre’s front door, pressing them forward by the crook on their backs.

“THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK MAMA CRY!” Papyrus said, even as he dragged his feet, “BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO FEEL LIKE YOU’LL NEVER SEE TINA AGAIN! I’LL BRING HER OVER AS MANY TIMES AS SHE WANTS.”

But Mama Cry softly shook her head, preparing to close the door behind them, “Don’t you see Papyrus?” she looked from Sans to Tina, who had Minty once again wrapped around her middle, “That wouldn’t be a good thing.” She sighed softly, closing the door gently. “I’m not her family anymore.”

The door closed, locking shut as Mama Cry walked away from the glass door, quickly disappearing from sight.

“WELL, THAT WAS AWKWARD.” Papyrus said, rubbing the back of his head.

Sans sighed heavily, turning to walk towards the parked red sports car close by. “that’s just the result of a lot of history paps. it’s a bitter happiness for her.”

Papyrus quickly caught up to his brother, walking to the driver side of the car, and climbed in. “AM I EVER GOING TO HEAR ABOUT THIS HISTORY, OR DO I HAVE TO KEEP IMAGINING THE WORST?”

Sans shrugged, buckling his passenger seat belt up as he looked over at Tina and Minty, still on Papyrus’s shoulder, “s’not my place to say. you’ll have to wait till tina is ready to tell you, and i wouldn’t be asking any questions like that soon, that’s for sure.”

Minty huffed, tightening his grip on her side, “It doesn’t matter what happened to her past, because we’re  her future now!”

“WELL SAID!” beamed Papyrus, starting up the car and pulling onto the road. “AND I AM SO HAPPY WITH HOW THIS ALL TURNED OUT, THAT I’LL EVEN IGNORE THE FACT THAT YOU’RE NOT IN YOUR PROPER SEAT.”

Minty giggle guiltily, “That’s because tonight’s a special night, isn’t it Pappy?” An idea occurred to him, because he suddenly stood up and rushed over to Papyrus’s head, tapping him eagerly him. “Pappy! I-!”

“WHAT HAVE I SAID ABOUT DISTRACTING ME WHEN I’M DRIVING MINTY!” scolded Papyrus.

Tina quickly grabbed Minty, pulling him behind her as she hunched protectively between him and the threat.

Sans watched all this happen, his hand raised mid-way to intervene, but thought better of it.

Papyrus and Minty, however, didn’t notice anything strange. “THANK YOU TINA! IT’S NICE TO FINALLY HAVE SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE IMPORTANCE OF ROAD SAFETY.”

Minty huffed, struggling to get around Tina, who maintained her protective stance between him and Papyrus. “But I was just going to say we should throw a slumber party to celebrate our plan working!”

Papyrus served in the middle of the road, before quickly pulling over, causing Tina and Minty to tumble into Papyrus’s skull and Sans to cling to the passenger’s grip handle, exclaiming “gezz paps! eyes on the road!”

But Papyrus wasn’t paying attention, instead, he had picked up both Tina and Minty and was holding them up eagerly, “THAT’S AN AMAZING IDEA!”

“I know!” beamed Minty back, still being held back by Tina.

Papyrus’s eyes shifted to her, “WHAT DO YOU THINK TINA? DOESN’T THAT SOUND LIKE THE GREATEST PLAN EVER?!”

 Tina shrugged, watching Papyrus’s movements.

“i don’t think that was a yes-“ Sans started.

But Minty quickly said, “But it was most definitely not a no either!”

Papyrus nodded, placing the bittes back onto his shoulder before pulling back onto the road and resumed driving.

While Minty and Papyrus gabbed about what they could do by tonight, what they needed and how all of this was bound to make Tina feel welcomed, Tina kept watching Papyrus as Minty remained securely at her side, with Sans watching carefully during the entire trip.

~*~

When they pulled in front of the skeleton's house, Y/n noted that it was a pleasant looking house, complete with a well-kept garden, filled with many different and new things that Tina imagined might be fun to watch Minty play in, possibly when she sketch him.

_‘It’s funny to think that this isn’t my first time being here, yet it’s my first time seeing the outside.’_

Minty had probably been thinking the same thing, because he said, loudly, “Welcome home Tina. I can’t wait to show you inside for the first time!”

Sans snickered behind them as he followed his brother inside, while Papyrus boasted, his arms open wide, “YES! WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME TINA! THE BEST HOUSE THAT HAS EVER EXISTED IS NOW THE GREATEST HOME WITH YOU HERE!” He turned to look at her on his shoulder, “LET’S SHOW YOU WHERE YOU’LL BE LIVING FROM NOW ON!”

In the next moment, Papyrus was running upstairs, pass the bottom floor’s living room and numerous archways that lead to other rooms, missing every other step as he quickly arrived at the bedroom landing, standing in front of a door marked with caution tape.

Papyrus coughed dramatically, before opening the door with a grand gesture, “TINA? WELCOME TO YOUR ROOM!”

Tina looked around the room she had already seen, noting that nothing had really changed. There was still racecar bed in the corner, various action figures and belongs on shelves and bookcases, a wardrobe at the back, with a computer set up just in front of a fairly decent sized bitty house.

It was the house that Papyrus moved to, lowering Tina and Minty to the front door, with Sans leaning on his brother’s bedroom doorway, grinning as he watched everyone. When they safely on the ground, Papyrus stood back grinning as well, “MINTY CAN SHOW YOU THE HOUSE (THAT I PERSONALLY MADE WITH MY SUPERIOR SKILLS!), AND THE ROOM THAT YOU’LL BE SLEEPING IN!”

“The one with the lock on the door.” Minty said, unable to say that without instantly drawing attention to just how suspicious he was acting.

Good thing then that Papyrus didn’t seem capable of seeing through Minty’s bad acting. “AH, YES, OF COURSE!” He crouched low, pressing his skull to the floor next to her, “I HOPE THAT YOU’LL FIND THIS HOUSE MORE THAN ACCEPTABLE.” He brightened, “AND IF YOU DON’T, I’LL JUST HAVE TO BUILD ANOTHER HOUSE!”

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary.” She said, as Minty grabbed her hand and dragged her inside.

Papyrus and Sans continued to beam, even as Minty quickly closed the door, and began to show her different things in a loud and exaggerated tone. “This whole house has lights, and this is the bathroom. It’s got running water and everything. Here’s my toy room, but you can play here if you want to. Here’s my-“

Tina flowed slowly behind him, watching Minty instead of paying any attention to what he was saying.

Before long, he was ‘showing’ her room to her, where she gratefully dropped her bag onto the bed that she now guessed was hers.

“Aren’t you going to unpack?” Minty asked, watching her make her way back towards him.

Smiling, she turned around and dumped everything out of the bag and onto her bed instead, before turning towards him again.

“Tina!” huffed Minty, “That’s not put away!”

“Who’s room is this?” she asked cheekily, standing before him with her arms folded.

“It’s yours, but-!”

“Exactly, and that means I can decorate and organise my room however I like it.” she turned and angled her fingers like she did when she mocked painted things, “Perfect!”

Minty rolled his eyes, turning to leave.

Smiling, Tina quickly followed.

The skeletons brothers were waiting outside, with Papyrus still crouched close to the floor. When he saw them leave the house, he quickly moved in closer.

“SO?! HOW DID YOU LIKE THE HOUSE?!”

“I like it.” She grinned, moving with Minty onto his hand as they were both raised to his shoulder again.

“ARE YOU SURE? I CAN CHANGE AND BUILD ANYTHING, AFTER ALL, THAT’S HOW AMAZING I AM!”

“You sure are Pappy!” Minty cheered, quickly hugging the blushing boney cheek next to him.

Tina laughed, before coughing in slight irritation, “I- *cough*, I’ll let you know.”

Sans stepped forward, looking at her with concern. “hey paps? how about we get her some tea?”

“OH?” Papyrus looked quickly at her as she rubbed her throat, “OH! YES! OF COURSE!”

He ran out of the room, almost making Tina and Minty fall off as he hurried downstairs and towards what looked like a kitchen.

…A kitchen that had been abandoned in mid-meal.

“What happened here?” she asked, looking at the plates with mostly finished meals

“When Sans told us about what happened today between you and him, Pappy and I both agreed that we had been very patient for long enough, and I remembered what hours the adoption centre was open, so we quickly drove as fast as we could!” Minty explained, hugging her more tightly.

“I REMAINED WITHIN THE SPEED LIMIT THE ENTIRE WAY!”

“Na-uh, I saw you speed to make it when that light was turning yellow!”

Papyrus looked shifty, before quickly turning away as he continued to make tea, “WE-WELL THAT’S BECAUSE- IT WASN’T- IT’S NOT WHAT IT-“

“easy up on him kid.” Sans said, from behind them. Tina turned and saw him now leaning on the kitchen archway, before shrugging “it worked out it the end, didn’t it?”

“AS I TOLD YOU THAT IT WOULD!” exclaimed Papyrus, moving Tina and Minty from his shoulder to the dining table, before handing her a thimble filled with warm Sea Tea.

“Sea Tea can be warm?” she asked, feeling the pleasant warmth heating up her hands.

“BUT OF COURSE!” Papyrus said, hurriedly, cleaning up the mess from the abandoned dinner, after he had passed a cleaning rag to a grumbling Minty, who began to push into along the table.

“you didn’t know that?” asked Sans, lazily picking up dishes and moving them to the sink.

She shook her head, and took a tentative sip.

The healing tea soothed her irritation, pleasantly warming her insides. Humming, she took a longer sip, enjoying the tea for the first time. It still tasted like bad memories, but without its signature chillness, the tea helped ease her throat’s muscles.

“I prefer it like this.” She hummed, taking another long draft. “It’s a lot better on my throat.”

Sans moved closer to her, “didn’t you ever tell mama cry that the cold drink was hurting you?”

She shrugged, “I didn’t really think about it.”

Sans looked grim.

“Well if you like that, you’re going to love hot chocolate!” drooled Minty.

Papyrus grinned over his shoulder as he finished scrubbing the last plate, “NORMALLY I WOULD SAY NO TO THAT, BUT SEEING AS WE’RE CELEBRATING, WHY DON’T WE HAVE HOT CHOCOLATE AND MARSHMALLOWS?”

Minty eye grew huge, and it looked like he had just been told that Christmas and his birthday were both happening today.

While he celebrated, still wiping down the table, Tina and Sans chuckled as the pair resumed their eager conversation from the car, trying to decide what to do. Tina smiled warmly at Minty beaming back at Papyrus, and Sans grinned broadly as he watched all three of them.

~*~

Eventually, with Sans stopping the more outlandish ideas like throwing a nighttime party in a nearby park, the pair settled back onto the slumber party idea, eventually being negotiated to just a single movie, hot chocolate, marshmallows and popcorn.

Tina and Sans had sat back and watched as Minty stood on Papyrus’s shoulder, offering encouragement and guidance. She didn’t know if Papyrus was a bad cook, Minty was a bad instructor, the pair were too excited to really be paying attention or some combination of all three, all that she did know was that they had managed to burn the popcorn.

The only good thing that had come out of the whole experience was their expressions as the two tried defending their cooking skills, insisting that the popcorn was good and that they were not cringing as they chewed the ashen flavour the popcorn had been reduced to. Although a close second would be when Sans and Tina had some popcorn themselves and ate the pieces without much complaint, much to the two disbelieving stares of the two ‘cooks’. She guessed Sans was doing it for a reaction, but for her part, the food wasn’t particularly that bad, but then again, she didn’t have much preference for these type of things.

Which was why when, as Sans finished making the hot chocolate for everyone and Papyrus continued to insist the popcorn was still good through tears gathering at the corner of his eyes and she was handed her own hot chocolate with miniature marshmallows in a container that was basically a bowl for her, she had given most of her marshmallows over to Minty. It was nice to see his eyes light up each time, the way he’d pretend pine and make pathetic whimpering sounds as he cuddled up to her side, looking up at her with his pleading eyes. She was sure that Sans saw her doing this, because he eventually called Minty over to him in mid-movie, handing him his one large marshmallows if he stayed with him.

Easily brought, Minty remained curled up on Sans’s stomach, the large marshmallow basically intact as he, instead of eating it, was using it as a pillow as the movie ended.

Papyrus stretched, still teaming with energy. “WELL, I-“

Sans quickly hushed his brother, before pointing to Minty moving gently up and down on his chest with every breath, still sleeping on the marshmallow that he clung possessively too, even in sleep.

His eyes warming, Papyrus gently lifted Minty from Sans, carrying him in his hand. Looking over at Tina, who was still sitting on the armrest close to Sans, he whispered, “I’M GOING TO TAKE MINTY TO BED. WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO BED TOO?”

She nodded, moving onto his other hand as he raised her to his shoulder.

Standing, Papyrus turned to his brother, who remained on the couch. “Night Sans!” he whispered.

"wait."

Papyrus stood back, as Sans slowly raised himself out of the couch, reaching into a pocket. He held something out to Y/n, who reached out and took it.

It was his mobile phone.

She looked back at him.

"mama cry said you basically know how to make a call?"

She nodded.

"well not only have i got the adoption centre saved on there, i've also got her private number." he moved in closer, "she wanted you to know that you can call that number, whenever you like, for whatever reason."

Tina nodded, holding tightly to the phone. "What about you?"

Sans shrugged, "i'll make do for tonight. longer, if i have to. might even take you along so you can pick out your own phone, if you'd like?"

She shrugged.

Sighing, he said softly, "well then, goodnight tina." He looked up to his watchful brother, "night paps."

Nodding, Papyrus moved upstairs, where Tina quickly looked over her shoulder and saw that Sans was watching them leave. He waved at her when he saw her looking, before she hurriedly turned away.

Once inside, Papyrus walked over to the house, unclipping the roof and lowered Minty into his bed from above.

“The house has clips?” she asked, finally noticing the hinges and clips. Just like that, she was comparing this house to the only other container she had been in that had latches in the roof. The nice looking house, with its walls for privacy now had more in common with the barbed fence she knew better than to approach.

Papyrus nodded, raising his hand towards her. She jumped onto his hand slowly and was soon lowered into her room. If Papyrus noticed that she didn’t jump off herself, instead, requiring him to tip his hand so that she slide off, he didn’t comment. Instead, he closed the roof softly, whispering “GOOD NIGHT TINA! IF YOU NEED ME, I’LL BE RIGHT OVER HERE!”, before the roof was softly closed and clipped back into place.

Tina remained where she had been dumped, listening to the house slowly falling asleep hours later, thinking about how she was going to keep Minty safe now.

A basic plan established, she moved around the house and Papyrus’s bedroom, gathering supplies.

 

Next Chapter is called: Wakeup call


	13. Wakeup call

Tina only slightly struggled under the weight of her stolen supplies on her back and a sleeping Minty wrapped around her front, his gently breathing playing on her neck as she supported his weight with her arms and a blanket she had used to tie him to her. She was ever so gratefully that Minty was a heavy sleeper, but she also knew he was, unfortunately, an early-riser; she was racing against a ticking clock now. Her once again filled backpack had been filled with a lot of stuff she had taken from around Papyrus's room, but she had to leave a lot of her and Minty’s personal stuff behind as well. She hadn’t bothered keeping Sans’s phone; it was too heavy, cumbersome, easily tracked and it wouldn’t last long out in the elements.

_‘Unfortunate, but speed is key if I want to make enough distance before the skeletons wake-up.’_

She didn’t bother to look back at the house she had come from in the early dawn light; she wouldn’t miss it. She thought she might miss Sans, the prospect of keeping in touch with Mama Cry and not having to worry about the elements again, but she knew none of that was worth risking Minty’s safety.

 _‘If I had known how bad it was, I would have taken him sooner.’_ She thought, looking over at his cradled face, resting on her collarbone.

She didn’t have a clear goal where she was heading to (perhaps a nice human who liked growing vegetable out in the country or something), all she knew was she had to get as far as she could. When she found the perfect place for Minty, a place where he didn’t have to fear the elements or opportunists predators, Tina would do all that she could to make him a new home.

Not all her scars had come from her previous owner of the bitty fights after all.

Walking past yet another bus stop, Tina lamented that it was still too early to sneak aboard one and trust fate to take her somewhere far away. She knew she would never be far enough before the skeletons woke up if she was forced to travel by foot, but having Minty with her was restricting her options right now.

Growing frantic, she spied a human climbing into his truck in the dawn light, muttering to himself tiredly. Taking a risk, Tina ran over to this truck, climbing up and settling on the passenger-side steps.

Minty was stirred in his sleep, looking up at her in confusion. “Tina?” he mumbled.

Tina hushed him, rocking him gently in her arms as she started to hum him the lullaby she always had. She had no idea how she knew such a song by heart, but Mama Cry said it a popular human lullaby. Well, according to the internet, anyway.

He settled back to sleep, his hand tighten on her shirt. Smiling, she hugged him closer to her, humming as loud as she dared to as the truck’s engine roared into life and began to move.

Minty stirred again, peaking at her through cracked eyelids, “Tina? What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing.” She whispered into his ear, glad that the noise of the truck's engine had finally settled into a steady rhythm, “Just go back to sleep.”

He nodded gently, settling his head back into the crock of her neck, seemingly ignoring the gathering wind as the truck picked up speed.

~*~

They had actually managed to travel quite a bit before Minty woke up properly in the early morning. Truth be told, Tina was rather surprised he managed to sleep through the sounds of other trucks constantly pulling up and parking alongside this truck; the sounds on heavy duty brakes screeching all around them.

He looked at her, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he squinted in the morning light, “Tina? Wh-what are you doing in my room?”

By this point, Tina had already abandoned the truck that had brought them here and was looking for another truck that looked like it was about to leave. What she noted was that the trucks appeared without their cargo but left with it. Maybe this place was some sort of distributing place?

Still, she knew better than to ignore him, so she gently patted his back, looking around as she walked.

Minty continued to look around and seemed to finally realise where he wasn't, “Wait, this isn't my bedroom.” He looked at her, “Where are we Tina?”

Grinning, Tina spied a truck driver getting into his truck, obviously about to head out. Running over to it, she stopped patting Minty’s back so that she could pull them both up onto this truck’s passenger steps.

“Tina?”

Settling against the side on the dirty, cold metal of the footstep leading to the passenger side, she smiled down at a confused Minty who sat in her lap, still wrapped in the blanket.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe.”

“Safe? I was in danger?”

She nodded, hugging him to her.

He pushed away from her, growing panicked, “W-what happened?! Where’s Papyrus?!”

She hushed him, drawing him closer to him, “S’okay, I’m sure he’s fine.”

“H-how do you know that?! What happened Tina?!?”

Before she could answer, a familiar voice suddenly cried out in the early morning light, “MINTY!?! TINA!?!”

Tina and Minty made to look towards the voice’s direction, but the truck was already moving through the front gates and there wasn’t anyone on their side of the truck to see.

Minty’s head still faced towards the direction the voice had come from, “Was that Papyrus?!”

Tina shrugged, drawing him closer to her.

But Minty was fighting her, struggling to push back so that he could see her face, “What’s happening Tina?! Please!”

She gently wiped away the tears that were gathering, smiling softly at him, “Do you trust me?”

“Y-yeah *sniffle*, but I don’t understand what’s happening! I’m scared!”

She firmly pulled him back into her, where he finally wrapped his arms around her, crying into her shirt and ignoring her gently pats and soothing words. While he cried, she thought about how quickly they had been found, frantically thinking of all the things she had that might be giving away their position, some clue that she had accidentally left behind as she walked perhaps?

_‘Doesn’t matter now, there’s no way he’ll be able to follow us if he doesn’t know what truck we’re on. When we get further away, I’ll change vehicles as many times as I have to. I’ll properly get rid of the bag and start with nothing if that what it takes.’_

Anything to keep Minty safe.

~*~

Erring on the side of caution, Tina swapped vehicles two times at red-lights, which saw them eventually travelling ages along  a busy highway, sitting on the steps of RV. Tina had pinned Minty securely to the side of their van’s steps, protecting his body from the strong wind and warming him with her body. He was still very confused and very scared, but when Tina had asked him to help her keep them safe for now and save his questions for later, he had reluctantly agreed, still rubbing his eyes and nose. Now he clung to her, shivering that had nothing to do with the strong, cold wind.

There wasn’t much the pair could do as they sat and watch the land zipping by. Nothing was said as the landmarks slowly changed from outer city, to suburbia, to rural. It was when the land became more wide open land with only the occasional man-made landmark that Minty spoke up again, asking her what the tall cylinder thing was. She explained that it was a silo, having then to explain the concept of storing food and water for long periods. He became more talkative after that, his apparent lack of knowledge about country life and landscapes soon became obvious. Still, Tina enjoyed his questions, smiling as he stared bright-eyed at the fields of sunflowers, exclaiming excitedly at seeing cows and generally marvelling how beautiful the natural landscape was. She knew then, she would find them a place out here for him…somewhere.

Eventually, the van pulled into a stop-and-revive spot; a gravelled path that peeled off from the highway with a public restroom and little less. Tina had Minty remain silent as she watched the old human couple exiting the van, with the old lady heading towards the toilets and the old man stretching his muscles, pulling out his lighter and smokes. When she saw him heading their way, Tina jumped down and caught Minty as he jumped into her arms, running behind the nearby tire as the man opened up the van’s door and disappeared inside.

Hearing Minty’s stomach growl next to her, Tina opened up her bag and fetched out a packet of crackers she had taken from the skeletons' house, passing him one as she tucked the now useless blanket into the bag with the other crackers. As he happily chewed, she weighed up the options.

She had no clue where they were, but it was safe to say they were far from any skeleton. There was little traffic on the highway she could just see beyond the public toilets, so the odds of there being another vehicle passing soon was unlikely and not worth leaving this vehicle, not until they were at least a little closer to civilisation again.

_‘Besides, Minty needs proper shelter and fresh water, and this van probably has what he needs inside.’_

It was a risk, but she didn’t want to leave him out exposed like this, not if she could get him inside.

“Minty?”

He looked at her, half of a crack in his mouth, “Whaff?”

Smiling, she gestured silence with her finger, before jerking her finger up.

He looked at her, looked up and then looked back at her.

“Whaff?”

Sighing, she leaned in closer to him, “We’re about to try and sneak in and I need you to be *cough* silent.”

He looked at her, concerned, hurriedly finishing off his cracker, “Tina?”

“I’m fine. Just help me gets us up there, got it?”

He nodded.

Grinning, she stood up, “Okay, follow me and keep quiet, understand?”

He nodded again, pressing himself closer to her.

She looked around the tire and saw no one. Hurriedly, she ran back over to the step, jumping and pulling herself up, before reaching down and pulling Minty up next to her. The next step was easier as Minty pulled himself up. Next, she had him climb in front of her, up the van’s door.

“Why are we doing this?” complained Minty, looking down at her.

Tina raised a finger to her lips, as the old man’s voice called out, “Martha? Is that you?”

Minty stilled, his eyes growing large.

Nudging him, Tina prompted him to keep climbing.

When they were both standing on the roof, Tina looked down and over the side while Minty was catching his breath next to her. There were a few things in her bag that could help her here, but it’d be simpler to time the drop.

She turned back to Minty and whispered, “I need you on my back.”

“But the bags in the way.” He whispered back, clearly confused and still a bit apprehensive.

“Trust me, *cough* you’ll fit under it.”

He looked doubtful, but dutifully jumped onto her back when she took off the bag. When she threw it over him, so it rested on his back instead of hers, Tina tightened the straps of the bag, anchoring him to her.

“This is weird.” He whispered in her ear.

She nodded, climbing back down and hung on the door.

Looking over her shoulder at Minty, she whispered, “I need to yell ‘Help’, as loud as you can.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see. Just do it.”

He still looked confused, but shrugged before filling his lungs.

“HELP!!!”

The was a spluttering sound from inside before hurried footsteps barged the door open wide.

“Martha!!” the old man cried out, frantic.

When he heard no reply, he hobbled down the steps, before walking as fast as he could towards the toilets.

Meanwhile, Tina had nearly lost her grip on the door, hanging on by a hand. She hadn’t been prepared for an old man capable of such a force, and now the door was quickly closing again. Desperate, she swung up one of her legs around, using it to stop the door slamming close even as she gasped in pain as it closed on her upper thigh instead.

“Tina?!”

Ignoring Minty, she quickly brought up her other hand to the other side of the door, pushing the door open further so she could swing them inside. With them safely inside and the door closed behind them, Tina dropped to the floor, toppling over on her bruised leg.

“Tina!” Minty cried out, struggling to free himself from the bag.

But Tina pushed herself up, dragging herself over to the underside of the built-in table, the sounds of human footsteps crunching on gravel was quickly approaching.

“Tina! Are you okay?!”

Before she could tell him to be quiet, the old man’s voice called out, “Okay, who’s here? I know heard someone in there! Come out before I shoot you!”

“He’s going to kill us!” cried Minty, shaking at her back.

Tina turned to him and hurriedly whispered, “Quite! He doesn’t know anything! Just keep quiet and I’ll get us out of this!”

Minty clamped his mouth shut, even as he quacked at her back.

Breathing heavily, Tina’s eyes darted around, looking for a new hiding spot. If the old man came in, he was sure to check where humans could fit, with under the table the first place anyone would look.

_‘I-I have to go high! People never look up!’_

She spied an air vent, high at the back of the RV and above a bed with curtains on the windows. Hurriedly, she ran towards them.

“I-I mean it! I’ll-I’ll shoot you i-if you don’t come out right now!”

The sound of the door handle jiggling open sped up her climb up the bed sheets.

They had barely cleared the sheets and dived under a blanket fold when the door was slammed open again. Tina and Minty both stayed perfectly still, one too frightened to move and the other listening with that honed skills of a fighter looking for an opening.

The floorboards creaked under the old man's weight, his hitched breath as he moved around the small space. They could hear him checking under the table, groaning as he bent and picked himself off the floor. The sounds of cardboard opening and closing with timber doors creaking and slamming shut with every heartbeat startled both of them ever time, all while the old man’s fear left him.

There was a moment of silence, before the man was grumbling something about old age.

Tina had dared to think they were in the clear when suddenly the bed was struck repeatedly in odd, random sections.

Minty shrieked, and the beating stopped.

“What the?”

Tina tensed up and prepared to fight with everything she had, almost feeling his hand drawing near, to tear the sheets off from their hiding spot.

But before he could, there was a loud, boisterous yelling from outside, “MINTY?! TINA?! WHERE ARE YOU?!?”

“What the hell?!” cursed the confused man, the sound of him hurriedly leaving the RV as the floorboards creaked under his stumbling weight.

Minty eagerly called out, relief clear in his voice, “Papyrus! I’m in here!!”

Tina tore off the blanket, pulling the straps more firmly to her back as she ran and jumped for the curtains, “Quite Minty!”

“Why?” he asked, trying to listen in to the sounds of arguing outside.

“Please!” she insisted, huffing in effort as she climbed the curtains, “I’m trying to keep you safe!”

“But Papyrus-“

“Minty!” she bellowed.

He fell silent, or at least he was silent till the sound of a gunshot rang out.

“Papyrus!!!” screamed Minty.

The RV roared into life and began swinging side to side, causing Tina to topple side to side as she tried to run to the air vent. She nearly barreled through it when the RV came to a screeching halt.

“Get in Martha!!!” yelled the old man’s voice.

“What’s happening Harold?!?”

“Get in!!!”

Pushing out the vent, Tina climbed through the small hole she had made and made her way to the roof, seeing that the RV had pulled over next to the public toilets, with the roof within jumping distance. Not bothering wasting time trying to figure out what had just transpired between the old man and the person who had to be Papyrus, Tina leapt for the roof, choosing to risk being trapped in the middle of nowhere then a trigger-happy old man.

Rolling to a halt, Tina stood up and looked quickly around for a new place to hide as the sounds of spinning tires kicking up gravel started and she saw the RV speeding onto the highway. Frantically, she ignored the voices of the two people who shouldn’t have been able to find her.

“you okay papyrus?!”

“I’M OKAY! BUT HE’S LEAVING SANS! MINTY’S STILL IN THERE!!”

“i’m on it! hop on and i’ll get us close enough to stop him!”

Minty, scared of being left behind, cried out, “Papy-!” before Tina had a chance to cover his mouth, fighting to silence him.

“…MINTY?”

“papyrus! there isn’t time! i can’t keep teleporting like this and we’re losing the van with every second!”

“BUT SANS, I JUST HEARD HIM! RIGHT NOW! MINTY’S CLOSE!”

“not possible papyrus! i didn’t see anything leaving or exiting the van paps-!”

“I KNOW WHAT I HEARD! YOU GO ON AHEAD, BE SURE TO CONVINCE THEM THAT YOU REALLY NEED TO CHECK THEIR VAN! I’LL STAY HERE AND SEARCH THE AREA!”

“…okay, fine!”

The sound of a scooter peeling off in the gravel echoed in the clearing, before the scooter’s engine gave chase in the direction the RV had fled.

“MINTY!?! MINTY, PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!! I’M RIGHT HERE!!”

Meanwhile, Tina was still struggling with Minty, who was trying to get loose from both her hands and the bag.

“Mmmhhh hhmmmm!” he cried out.

She hissed at him, struggling to keep him quiet, “Minty, please! Stop! You can’t- ow!”

Minty bit her, and it was more the shock of him doing so than the actual bite that gave him the opening he needed to cry out, unobstructed, “Papyrus!”

Abandoning the need to keep him quite, Tina stood up and tightened the straps on her bag, running for roof vent.

“MINTY!! WHERE ARE YOU?! IS TINA OKAY?!?”

“We’re up here!! On the roof!”

Tina had only just managed to kick off the bit of plastic that guarded the vent and was starting to slide down it when Papyrus’s face appeared peeking over the roof lip.

“WAIT, IT’S ME TINA!!”

But Tina had already dropped, landing heavily on her feet on the ground level, holding firm the bag straps as Minty continued to struggle.

“Tina stop! It’s Papyrus! He’s okay! He's been looking for us!”

Tina ignored Minty. Instead, she violently kicked the ground vent off and made a lot of metallic noise in the process, no longer caring about anything but escaping.

Papyrus’s red boots landed in front of her escape, before he squatted down and peered in, “TINA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHAT HAPPENED?!”

She turned and run back inside, easily dodging Papyrus’s hand as he reached for her.

“TINA! IT’S ME, PAPYRUS! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY FROM ME?!”

“Tina, stop!”

Tina ignored them both, ignored everything but the need to escape. She barreled into the closed door, the speed she hit it and her weight was barely enough to move the heavy swinging door, but she created enough of a gap to claw her way through.

Once she was out in the open, she headed straight for the tall grass on the other side, stopping only when she was blocked by a wall of bones, still ignoring both the cries of someone on her back tapping her while struggling and someone far behind her moving quickly in. There were gaps between the bones and she exploited this flaw, edging herself into a gap and pushing with all her might to create a larger gap. Once she managed this, she pushed through and kept running for the grass.

Suddenly, something became heavy in her and was forced to the ground, dragging her body along with it. Tina snarled, struggling to move just one finger as she lay panting in the dirt.

“papyrus! stop!!”

Whatever held her realised her, and just as quickly, Tina was back on her feet, running for the grass.

“SANS! SHE WON’T STOP! SHE’S SCARING HIM!! CAN’T YOU HEAR HIM?!?”

Tina dived into the overgrown grass, pushing her way through the growth. She ran till she came to another wall of bones, only these were blue and nothing she did could move them. She abandoned them, running along with length, searching for a gap.

“you’re only making it worse papyrus! stay back and let me help her!”

She eventually followed the bones to the edge of the growth and saw how they came out into the opening, back into the clearing where a short skeleton sat on the ground, its eyes closed while a tall skeleton paced frantically behind him, its eyes scanning the growth.

Abandoning this plan, she ran back and found a patch of dirt, and began digging.

And kept digging.

This was taking too long! Quickly, she dug to the side, widening the hole.

It took her a long time to realise that the bones penetrated the ground deeply all around her, leaving her standing in a hole that was her waist deep when she finally settled enough to notice this.

She knelt in the hole.

“Sh-she’s stopping!” Minty sniffled on her back, calling out to someone she couldn’t see.

“give her some silence kid. try to keep perfectly still.”

Minty nodded, sniffling occasionally.

Tina stared at the ground, listening to her beating heart settling with her ragged breathes.

She felt the need to run leaving, taking with it the adrenaline that had fueled her and leaving her empty and numb. She watched water dripping off her, landing in the dirt in front of her. Absentmindedly, she wiped her forehead and something flinched on her back, stilling her in mid-motion. Slowly, she looked over to see Minty puff-eyed and hiccuping through quiet sobs.

“M-Minty?” she whispered softly, horror building at the edge of her mind like an oncoming storm.

He nodded, trying to keep as still as he could.

“Wh-what have I done?”

“I-I.” he looked away, “I don’t know.”

“tina?” called out Sans’s voice, starling Tina so much she flinched violently and startled Minty in turn again, “You doing okay?”

She looked around her, to her dirt-covered hands, to a crying Minty on her back, still trapped by the bag.

She shook her head.

“She shook her head Sans-“

“appreciate the info kid, but i’m going to need you to keep quiet for just a bit longer, got it?”

Minty hiccuped again, settling back down.

“when you’re ready to talk tina, i’ll be right here. i’m not going anywhere and no one is going in there and making you come out. you’re not in trouble, we just want to talk… when you’re ready.”

 _‘Ready?_ ’

She nearly laughed.

Ready to face angry monsters who would lock her away now? Ready to address her failings to protect Minty and scaring him in the process? Ready to return to being the broken bitty who was so damaged, she was a burden and useless to everyone and everything in existence?!

She stayed kneeling in the dirt.

…

..

.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” She eventually growled to herself.

“T-Tina, you-“ Minty started.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!!!” she screamed, quickly dissolving into coughs.

“Tina!” cried out Minty, rubbing her back.

“everything okay in there kid?” Sans asked, his voice carrying a hint of fear.

Minty called out to the direction that Sans’s voice had come from, “Tina is-“

“I’m fine!” she snarled, spluttering through her coughs.

She stood up and spat out a mouth full of blood onto the dirt, forcing back her coughs.

“Tina! Please-!”

She ignored him, walking towards Sans’s voice herself. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” She called out, feeling her throat flair in irritation.

She stopped when he could just see Sans still kneeling in the dirt, an eye open as he looked towards her direction, Papyrus was still pacing in the back, a picture of concern and apprehension.

“i never said that you had tina.” Sans replied simply.

She glared at him and spat, “Won’t stop you from punishing me though, will it?!”. She pointed to Papyrus, “He should be the one being punished, not me!”

Papyrus stopped, “ME?! WHAT DID I DO?!”

“Don’t pretend monster! I’ve *cough, cough* seen you for what you really are; just another Owner!”

Papyrus stood back, shocked, “I-I-I WAS JUST TRYING TO WELCOME YOU INTO OUR FAMILY!”

“Lies! All lies!”

“tina,” She didn’t notice she had been pacing till Sans’s voice made her break in mid-stride, “what exactly are you basing this on?”

“How about on the fact that he’s yet to keep any of his promises to me?!” she pointed to him, uncaring if they could see the action or not, “I had to steal all the things I needed to keep Minty and myself safe! I-*cough* I was pro-*cough*-mised supplies and a safe place to sleep!”

Minty rubbed her back, “Tina, please stop yelling! It’s hurting your voice!”

She ignored him, spitting out another mouthful of blood as she listened Papyrus spun some convent story that keeps him innocent.

“I HAVEN’T HAD TIME TO GET THEM YET TINA! I PROMISE, YOU’LL HAVE THEM AS SOON AS WE GET HOME!”

She scoffed, “Sure I will. And when I don’t get them, you’ll *cough* you’ll *cough* you’ll say it’s something else keeping you!”

Papyrus moved closer to her, his face breaking in concern, but Sans stuck out a hand, stopping him with a small shake of his head. Now deeply concerned and fearful, he dropped next to his brother, sitting crossed legged in the dirt. “I-I…I’M SORRY, TINA! IF I KNEW HOW IMPORTANT IT WAS FOR YOU HAVE THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, I WOULD HAVE KNOCKED ON EVERY NEIGHBOUR'S DOOR MYSELF AND BEGGED THEM FOR YOUR SUPPLIES IF I DIDN’T HAVE THEM!”

She glared at him, “Funny how quickly my wants and needs became ‘unimportant’, isn’t?”

His head dropped in shame.

“why did you take minty, tina?” Sans asked, still in a quiet and calm voice.

“Our house-shaped cage had an easy roof access.” Tina was pacing again, “Just like the last cage I was in.”

Papyrus gasped, “THAT’S NOT FAIR TINA! I WORKED REALLY HARD ON THAT HOUSE AND MINTY LOVES IT! HE HELPED DESIGN IT AND EVERYTHING!”

“Did he want you to have quick and easy access to him?! To have *cough* himself easily exposed and at your mercy every single night?!”

“W-WELL, NO. BUT, I ONLY PUT THAT IN SO THAT I-!“

“I DON’T CARE what you’re reasons are!! When you turn on me, ON HIM, you’ll use that thing to get us in the only place we feel remotely safe and hidden!!”

Tina began coughing hard and quickly fell to her knees, her eyes tearing up and her sides ached as her throat tore itself apart. Blood covered her hands and dribbled out of her mouth in slivery strands, all while Sans kept Papyrus from standing.

“Help her!” cried out Minty.

But Sans shook his head, “not unless she asks.”

He did not look happy with his answer.

After a while, Tina spat out yet another mouthful of blood and haphazardly wiped her hands on her ruined shirt by this point, sitting back on her heels.

“you okay-?” started Sans.

But she overrode him. “I’m fine.”

He nodded grimly. “okay.” He took a deep breath, “tina, papyrus did ask if the house was acceptable and offered to build a new house for you, if you wanted.”

She hissed, “How was I suppose to know-?!“

“you weren’t, but once you knew about the latches, you should have said something. if papyrus is a liar, like you think he is, you could have exposed him to me or mama cry and we would have stepped in for you.” He looked intently at her, “you said that you trusted us, remember?”

She looked up in hatred, “I-I don’t need anyone! Not anymore! I’ll keep Minty safe on my own and-“

**“tina!”**

Sans yelling her startled her and she looked up to see an actually angry Sans.

He pointed at her, “look at him tina! does he look safe?!”

She looked over her shoulder and really saw Minty for the first time in a long while; saw his puffy, red eyes, tear-stained face and snot covered nose. The subtly quivering coming from his core and his eyes dilated in fear.

The way he flinched when she turned to look at him

The image burned away her anger, leaving her hateful towards herself for doing this to him.

“i know you love the kid tina, but you’re hurting him.” He stared directly at her, “and that’s something that papyrus has never done to him. ever.”

She flinched and stopped dead, focusing her hearing on the gently sobbing of the person she swore she’d protect.

“I-I didn’t mean to. I-I only wanted to protect him.”

“i know tina, i know. but you've lost control. you have to acknowledge that. question is; how long are you going to pursue this and keep scaring minty?”

Quickly and gently, she loosened and slipped off the bag, causing the bag and Minty to fall from her back. His eyes locked on hers, darting side to side as he lay on his back, staring up at her in fear. As she continued to watch him, he pushed himself back, shuffling in the dirt before he picked himself up and stumbled out into the opening, towards the skeletons

“Pa-Papyrus!” sobbed Minty, throwing himself into his waiting hands.

Papyrus quickly picked him up, wrapping him in his hands as he brought the crying child to his face, “SHH, I’VE GOT YOU.”

Tina could only watch as something twisted and screamed in agony inside her.

“What have I done?” she whispered in horror, looking at her blood covered hands; an echo of her past.

Sans sighed, but Tina didn’t look away from her hands until something was gently placed next to her in the overgrowth. Turning to look at it, she saw that it was Sans’s phone.

She looked up at him.

“mama cry’s been calling all day, beside herself with worry. if you call her, you can tell her what you want to do, and i’ll make sure it happens.”

Her shoulders sagged and she bowed her.

She

had

failed.

She had managed to destroy the last positive thing she had in her life through her desperation to protect it.

She had nothing left now.

Was nothing.

Completely and utterly broken.

“No!”

All eyes focused on Minty, who was staring at her in horror.

“Please don’t go Tina!” cried Minty.

“kid, it’s her choice if she-“

“No it’s not! Family doesn’t let family hurt themselves, ever!” he looked at Papyrus, who stated back at him in shock, “We knew Tina had a bad past, but we swore we’d help her, no matter what!”

“BUT SHE-,” he looked away, “SHE KIDNAPPED YOU MINTY. SHE DOESN’T LIKE ME OR EVEN TRUST ME.”

“She trusts Sans. He got Tina to trust him!” He pointed to him, “Sans! You have to convince her to stay!”

Sans eyed him, confused, “b-but you’re scared of her kid. i don’t understand-“

But Minty stubbornly shook his head, “No I’m not!”

“kid-“

“I’m not afraid of Tina!” he looked down at her and her shocked expression, “I’m scared for her.” He looked to Papyrus, “She was so sure we were in danger! And then that mean human threatened to kill us and I-I-…and then sh-she-“

He dissolved into more sobs, with Papyrus cooing softly to him, trying to calm him.

Apparently Minty was still talking, because both skeletons moved in closer to hear him, flashed each other a look of surprise, before looking at her.

Tina had only eyes for Minty, and a soul-deep regret for every thought that had lead her so astray and to this path.

“tina?”

She forced her attention away from Minty to look at Sans.

“the kid’s right; we said we wanted you in our family, and that’s still true.” He looked over at Papyrus, who smiled softly and nodded, still holing Minty comfortingly. He turned to look at her, “you’re not in trouble tina, and you have nothing to fear from us; we forgive and completely understand what happened here. if you want to go back to the centre, we’ll take you safely there. if you want to go on your own, will give you supplies and anything else you need.” He offered a hand towards her, which Papyrus and Minty were quick to offer their hand as well, “and if you want to come home with us, to give us and this family another shot, we’ll take you home. we’ll do everything we can to make you feel safe tina, you have my word, only this time, you have to promise to tell us what you're thinking and feeling. any doubts you have, any concerns, you have to share them with at least a different person to make sure something like this never happens again.”

She stared at them, at a loss for words.

Eventually, she turned Sans’s phone, pulled up his contact list, and selected a number.

“Sans?! Where’s Tina?! Why haven’t you let her call me sooner than this?!”

“Ma-Mama Cry?” Tina rasped.

“Tina! My dear, why does your voice sound so rough?! What’s happened?!”

“I-I-.“ She crumpled, falling to her knees as she howled out her grief and regret, “I sorry!”

 

Next Chapter is called: Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the really late delay guys, but I've been super busy with several things happening at once =( My computer died, my Internship started, God of War stole my life and the new Avengers movie took my Saturday.
> 
> On that Internship thing, there is a good chance that I'll miss July's update. 6 weeks of full time, unpaid work while working nights is going to be rough...BUT, once it's done, I'm done with Uni!!  
> IF I miss the update, that happens and it sucks. BUT, after I'm done with Internship, I'll have nothing but free time! No promises, but just know that if I miss the July update, I, personally, will want to make up for it.  
> Anyway, sorry for the late realises =(
> 
> Also...
> 
> This chapter was one of the hardest I have ever struggled to write. It’s hard to put it into words why, but if I had to, a big part is I’m feeling like I’m over-reaching my abilities here. I feel like I’m not properly explaining Tina and why she would be acting like this. Plus, it might also be the fact that Tina is her own charter and the only one out of my stories without a Reader insert.
> 
> Generally speaking, Reader-insert stories have generic characters; a blank slate you can insert yourself into.  
> I guess it’s a bit like I’m eager to get Tina settled in and I feel like I’m dragging it out, but then something happens and I honestly couldn’t see Tina just accepting it like a normal person.
> 
> Truma...changes more than just your body.


	14. Family

Tina could only sit passively on Sans’s shoulder as the world went whizzing by in the taxi she was in, her eyes locked on Minty’s exhausted sleeping form in Papyrus’s hands. The cab driver had been more than confused and a little suspicious when he pulled into the stop-and-revive spot and is was to Sans having to explain that they changed their minds about travelling all the way back on a one-seat scooter with bitties on their shoulders.

Especially when Sans had to explain all the blood on Tina’s shirt, Minty’s tear-stained face and everyone’s generally very tense mood with everyone else.

The scooter was strapped to the taxi's roof, Sans gave additional money to the taxi driver for the scratches and his ‘understanding’, and shortly after, the taxi took all four of them back the way they had come.

Back to the skeletons' home.

No one spoke to anyone else, and that had little to do with how quickly Minty seemed to pass out in Papyrus’s hands once the taxi pulled onto the highway. For Tina, there was nothing to say. No thoughts she was trying to sort through, no questions she needed to ask and nothing she wanted to tell anyone. For her, it was all pure emotions, rolling in and rotation on constant shifts and loops that saw her experiencing regret, fear, anger, dread, lost, and a great and deeping sadness again and again in ebbs and flows.

She wasn’t sure what the skeletons were thinking, what conversations the two had from the moment they discovered Tina had taken Minty to their frantic search of a city Tina was fast leaving. There seemed to be unsaid things between them now, something unspoken that was probably on the tip of both their tongues, yet both unwilling to say whatever it was.

_‘Perhaps they don’t know what to say?’_

If that was true, it would be something she shared in common with them, and, as the area changed back into familiar territory and their house came into view, it was something she found herself more consciously aware of.

The sun was already high in the sky, well on its way to setting again, when the taxi pulled into the skeleton’s house. Papyrus helped Sans take the scooter off the roof, and once he was paid, the taxi driver left without another word, leaving two skeletons standing next to each other, a bit lost what to do now.

“I-I GUESS WE SHOULD HAVE LUNCH?” Papyrus offered, looking up from Minty and over at Sans. His eyes shifted to Tina’s ruined shirt and he quickly looked away, “UN-UNLESS YOU WANT TO CHANGE FIRST, TINA?”

After looking down at her own blood-splattered shirt and finding that she was more or less indifferent to the idea of ever changing, she looked back up and shrugged, much to Papyrus’s fallen expression.

“nah, i’ll make sure she gets changed paps.” Sans looked away from her to offer a sad smile at Papyrus, “how about you get started on lunch, and tina and i will join you in a sec.”

“SURE, IF THAT-“

“Wait!” Tina cried out, panicked as her raw throat threatened to rip apart what little it had just managed to heal.

When she saw that she had both skeleton's attention, her eyes locked back onto Minty. “I-I don’t want Minty out of my sight*cough*.” She looked at both skeletons' surprised expressions, “Please.”

She-she wasn’t strong enough to bear the thought of not being able to see that he was still breathing, still alive and safe, even if it wasn’t with her.

Not right now.

Sans looked away from her to Papyrus’s looking down at Minty’s form. “well, i guess we can-“

Without another word, Papyrus moved closer to Sans, his eyes locked on Tina as he firmly held Sans’s hand and tipped Minty gently into it. Once Minty was transferred across, he stood back as his shoulder’s sagged, his face falling in sorrow and regret.

“papyrus-“

Papyrus held out his hand, silencing Sans, “if THIS IS WHAT TINA NEEDS THAN I SEE NO REASON TO SAY NO.” He pulled his shoulder back and tried looking brighter about it, “BESIDES, I TRUST YOU ENOUGH TO LOOK AFTER HIM AND TINA.”

Sans nodded, before rubbing the back of his head, shifting awkwardly, “wh-what are you going to do with yourself?"

“I-I’LL PREPARE LUNCH….BY MYSELF….LIKE I USE TO.”

“papyrus, you could always wait for tina to get changed. even if minty sleeps through it, i don’t mind giving you a hand.”

Papyrus shook his head, “NO, IT’S FINE SANS. I’D MUCH RATHER GET LUNCH DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.” He smiled at Tina, “AFTER ALL, THERE IS MUCH TO DO IF I AIM TO GET TINA AS COMFORTABLE BY THE END OF THE DAY!”

“Me?” Tina asked, with a cough.

“OF COURSE!” he counted off on his hands, “FIRST, I WOULD NORMALLY DESIGN THE HOUSE WITH YOU, BUT SINCE THERE’S A CHANCE THAT THE STORES WILL CLOSE BEFORE THAT’S DONE, I’LL HAVE TO GO OUT SOON AND BUY MORE THAN I’LL THINK I’LL NEED IN SUPPLIES, THEN THERE’S THE ACTUAL BUILDING PROCESS, WITH ALL THE WIRING AND PLUMBING NEEDS TO BE CALIBRATED AND ADJUSTED TO COMPENSATE FOR LINKING WITH THE MAIN HOUSE, PLUS FURNITURE AND DETAILS, LIKE SANDING AND PAINTING. WHILE I’M OUT, I PLAN TO BUY A FEW SIMPLE SHIRTS, A PHONE AND TWO LOTS OF EVERYTHING OF EVERYTHING YOU ASKED FOR, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HAVING JUST ONE BAG OF SUPPLIES (ACTUALLY, I SHOULD PROBABLY BUY ANOTHER BAG), AND-“

“papyrus,” Sans said exasperatedly while all Tina could do was stare, “there’s not enough hours left in the day-“

“WHICH IS WHY I NEED TO GET MOVING!” Something seemed to occur to him, because he stopped halfway from turning away from them, “ACTUALLY, THAT REMINDS ME.” He quickly rushed forward and grabbed Sans’s shoulder while looking between him and Tina, “CAN YOU TWO WAIT FOR ME FOR JUST A QUICK MINUTE? I NEED TO GRAB SOMETHING!”

“s-sure, but what-?”

Sans never got time to ask that question fully, because Papyrus was already off, running towards the garage. As Tina and Sans looked at each other, a loud banging and crashing sound came from the garage's direction. Before Tina could ask about moving away so the sounds didn’t wake Minty, Papyrus came running back out, a power drill in one hand and screws in the other.

“PLEASE COME WITH ME.” He smiled, leading the way inside.

Confused, Sans followed, bringing along with him a passive Tina and a passed out Minty.

Papyrus walked over and up the stairs, strolling right into his room. By the time Sans made it to Papyrus’s doorway, he was already crouched by Minty’s house, using the drill to loudly remove the screws holding the latches in place. There appeared to be scattered plates of breakfast food near the house, but for the moment, Papyrus was busy with the house.

“I ORIGINALLY PLACED THIS LATCHES HERE SO THAT I COULD HELP MINTY IF HE EVER NEEDED ME.” Papyrus finished with the last latch and grinned over at Tina’s shocked face, “BUT WITH YOU HERE TINA, I DON’T NEED THESE ANYMORE, SO I CAN GET RID OF THEM. UNTIL THE NEW HOUSE IS BUILT (WHICH WILL BE DONE BY TONIGHT, BECAUSE I AM SIMPLY AMAZING), I’M HOPING THAT THIS WILL SUFFICE?”

And with that, he took the several screws he had and screwed in the roof, connecting it to the main building by placing them in random yet key places that anchored the roof firmly still.

With a firm nod and a firmer test as he tried to pry the roof free (where it didn’t so much as shift), Papyrus stood back up, looking proudly over at Tina.

“I HOPE THIS WILL DO UNTIL I’VE HAD TIME TO BUILD YOU A NEW HOUSE?”

Tina could only stare.

Sans nudged her with the side of his head, whispering to her, “you’re meant to tell him if there’s anything else he can do for you.”

“Oh.” She looked over at Papyrus’s expectant face, “n-*cough*no, I mean yes, it’s fine.”

“will you sleep in it tonight?” Sans asked her, direct.

She looked quickly over at him, to Papyrus’s beaming, hopeful face, over to the house without roof access.

“N-no.” she said, quietly.

There was too much association between this house and the cage she had compared it to last night.

She would never feel comfortable sleeping in it.

Papyrus’s shoulders fell, and he looked at his drill, his expression lost and confused.

Sans turned to her, “well, will you at least feel comfortable changing in it?”

Tina shook her head.

“TH-THAT JUST MEANS THE NEED TO GET THIS NEW HOUSE DONE TODAY JUST BECAME EVEN MORE IMPORTANT!” Papyrus cried out, tapping the drill in his other hand. Without another word, he headed for the door, stopping to look back and say to Tina, “I PROMISE, BY THE END OF THE NIGHT, YOU WILL FEEL COMFORTABLE ENOUGH TO SLEEP AND CHANGE IN THIS HOUSE, SOMEWHERE!”

“papyrus, you can’t really-“

But he was already gone, leaving Sans to sigh heavily as he looked over at Minty in his hand. “alright, let’s figure this out.”

He walked over to the house, looking it over. “tina, do you feel comfortable enough going in there and getting your clothes?”

“No.” She sighed heavily, “But I’ll need to go in there at some *cough* point. Might as well get this over with.”

“not necessarily.”

With his eye blazing blue in magic, Sans crouched down and peered into her bedroom window. Tina watched as a change of clothing was bathed in a blue glow and came through the window, that opened at their approach. As the pile of clothes settled in his other hand, Tina could only stare, her heart sinking.

“You-you have telekinesis.” She said, quietly.

Sans looked quickly over at her, then to his hand. When it clicked what she might be getting at, he looked sharply over at her, “we’d never use it on you tina. you don’t have to be afraid of being dragged or carried somewhere you didn’t want to.”

“Is that what happened to me?” When Sans looked at her, confused, she placed a hand to her chest, “Something got really heavy *cough, cough* in my chest and I was pinned to the ground.” She looked over at him, “That was magic, wasn’t it?”

“y-yes.” He admitted, just as quietly.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“if-if you want to get changed in the bathroom?” Sans offered, turning to leave, “i can stand at the door and wait for you to call out or something. i promise to stand right there, with minty.”

She didn’t like any of this; every new thing was another unfair advantage she had to contend with. But the harsh reality was that she needed to clean the blood from her skin and make sure her throat healed properly, and none of that was something she wanted Minty to see.

Nodding, she requested, “Okay, but I’ll also need Sea Tea. A lot of it.”

“do you need the container?” Sans asked, his voice very low.

“….Yes.”

~*~

When Sans went downstairs, it was to brew a fresh batch of Sea Tea and to explain to Papyrus what the plan was as his brother finished off preparing sandwiches for lunch. When Papyrus asked if the Container was going to be used, Tina had nodded, which lead to Papyrus asking if he should be there. Only when Sans pointed out that it was Papyrus’s job to look after her and that he should know now rather than in an emergency, Tina had relented.

As the Sea Tea cooled in the clear container on the bathroom bench, Tina looked up to the skeleton brothers, crowed in the bathroom.

“i’m not sure i get this kid.” Sans admitted, looking down at her in concern as he continued to hold Minty.

Tina looked sadly at the boy as well, “I need to re-open my wounds in my th-*cough*roat, to make sure they *cough* heal properly.”

“WHY NOT JUST DRINK SEA TEA?” Papyrus asked, clearly concerned.

“Because if I’ve healed wrong, the Sea*cough* Tea won’t correct what’s already healed. It’s why *cough, cough* scars linger after healing magic; the healing process had already started naturally.” She looked seriously at them, “You’re going to hear me co-*cough*ugh a lot, and it’s going to sound awful, but you can’t help. What you need to do is wait till after I start coughing up a lot of blood.” She looked over at Sans, “Do you remember the hotdog incident?”

Sans nodded, and she was sure it was one of his more unpleasant memories.

He pointed to Minty, “what about the kid? surely you don’t intend for him to see or hear any of this.”

“I-I-”

Tina looked away, clashing wants fighting in her.

On the one hand, the idea of Minty being somewhere she couldn’t see him, especially with what she was about to willingly put herself through, robbed her of the bit of courage she had. How would she know he was safe?? Where would he be and how could she protect him if he wasn’t right here, with her??

On the other hand, no child should ever see something as horrific as she knew the sight of her foaming at the mouth with blood looked like. She knew from past experiences that the bitty children who had been unfortunate enough to see her like that were scared away from her, forever.

She didn’t want Minty to look at her like they had.

“YOU TAKE HIM SANS.” Papyrus said, softly.

Sans looked over at him, surprised.

Papyrus stood with his shoulder back, looking over at Tina, “I’D MUCH RATHER HE WASN’T HERE; IT SOUNDS LIKE IT’S GOING TO BE AWFUL FOR YOU TINA, AND I’M ASSUMING YOU FEEL THE SAME WAY?” When she nodded, he continued, “THEN THE MOST LOGICAL THING TO DO WOULD BE TO PLACE MINTY IN THE CARE OF SOMEONE YOU TRUST.” His shoulder sank, “AND SINCE I AM CLEARLY NOT THIS PERSON, IT MAKES SENSE THAT SANS DO IT.” He crouched, stopping when he was on her eye level, “I HOPE YOU TRUST ME ENOUGH TO HELP YOU DO THIS INSTEAD?”

“it’s really bad.” Sans insisted, placing a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder, “and it’s going to be really hard to stand here and do nothing for a really long time, even if you really, really want to. are you sure about this?”

“THAT DEPENDS,” Papyrus looked back over at her, “IF TINA IS FINE WITH ME BEING HERE FOR HER?”

Tina considered it, reminding herself several times that she couldn’t drown or be killed when she was in the Container. She-she still wasn’t sure to make of Papyrus; most of her issues with him seemed like he just hadn’t thought things through properly. He was too pushy with his friendship, trying too hard to get her to like him, and it seemed like a genuine want, but who was to say that wasn’t an act?

No one just announced their intentions and plans. Her last owner certainly hadn’t.

She looked over at Sans, who looked grim, “if it helps, i’ll be by the door, listening in.”

It did, so looking back at Papyrus, she nodded.

“okay then.” Sans moved outside of the bathroom, cupping Minty in his hand. He looked directly at her, serious, “just outside tina.”

When she nodded, Sans bowed his head, and closed the door.

“IS-IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO, TO-TO HELP GET YOU STARTED?” Papyrus asked, looking extremely nervous now.

Tina shook her head, feeling really uncomfortable being alone with this monster, “N-no. It’s my own fault for *cough* going so long without Sea Tea after *cough, cough* a coughing fit.” She pointed to the container, “Just be sure to *cough* tip me in, head first, and that the li-*cough*d’s sealed tight. When the water stops being orange, pour me out into the sink.”

“OKAY.” Papyrus said quietly, sitting heavily on the toilet, “UM, GOOD LUCK TINA.”

She smiled softly at him, before turn her back to him.

No need to make this worse for anyone. He’d find out just how damaged she was in a second.

_‘Maybe he’ll finally change his mind?’_

With that thought, Tina smiled and willing forced a cough, which quickly brought more. Before long, her ribs ached and she could taste blood and see it on her hands, but she knew it wasn’t enough. When she saw Papyrus’s gloved hand in front of her, she held her sides and continued to cough, desperately shaking her head and hoping he got the message. Evidently, he did, because the hand soon disappeared and left Tina with nothing else to focus on but the flecks of blood she was leaving on the spotless bathroom bench.

Breathing soon became an issue for her, and she was forced to her hand and knees, her head pressed to the cold bench as blood began to trickle out of her nose. As her vision darkened and her coughs got weaker and weaker; the pressure behind the coughs was no longer strong enough to push the pooling blood in her lungs. With a desperate attempt, Tina tried to call out to Papyrus, but her body used the last ounce of air and a final mighty rib compression to force her to throw up as much blood out of her lungs as it could, leaving her in a pool of red. With her lungs now clearer, they dragged in more air, more coughs and more blood.

Tina’s vision darkened, and she eventually fainted in a coughing fit of enflamed pain.

~*~

Tina woke to a whirlwind of water current, her body colliding and bouncing around an orange container where up and down flipped and changed so frequently as to be meaningless. A painful strike to her head, and Tina gasped, pulling in water to her lungs. Intuitively, her body coughed, trying to get the water out, but when she tried to pull in another breath of air to replace it, she found only more water. Desperate, her body clamped up, fighting the instinct to breathe and held back her coughs that her body refused to give in to. Striking and failing, she hit the container with everything she had, striving to break free even as the container eventually stopped flipping. When her brain finally registered ‘up’, she swam for it, beating at the lid.

It wasn’t moving!

Panic made her claw at it, breaking off nails and her smallest finger when she tried twisting off the lid with just her pinkie seeing as that was all she could fit into the lid’s grove. The pain of the bone shaping made her scream in agony, and water flooded in. Giving in, her body began to take in deep breaths, but each breath was nothing but water, and every breath felt like drowning. She watched as red liquid poured out her mouth and nose as she clung to her throat, coughing the water out, only to pull more in.

She wasn’t even aware of the pair of eye lights peering in at her from the outside, both filled with heartbreaking concern.

~*~

When an immeasurable amount of time passed, Tina felt the water drag her out, into air and onto a dome surface. Hitting this, she felt her arm slip past some sort of metal bar, but the impact forced her to cough, quickly throwing up the water in her lungs. For the next several moments, she was aware of nothing but the water pouring out of her in heaving waves; just when she thought she was clear, she would take a breath and throw up some more green liquid.

Eventually, her lungs cleared, and she became aware of a small towel draped over her back and a gently bonny finger at her back that alternated between tapping and soft rubs.

“-YOU’VE GOT THIS TINA! DEEP BREATHS!! PLEASE BE OKAY!”

The sound of Papyrus brought her back to her reality, bring back her memories and what events led to she laying in what looked like the same bathroom sink. Sitting back, Tina wrapped herself in the towel, feeling her body several weakened and shivering that came with the complete exhaustion. Taking a deep breath, she was just glad when she could do so without pain.

She was healed, if not completely, then back to what she considered normal.

Looking up, she smiled softly at Papyrus, who visibly sagged with relief and with clear signs he had been crying, “OH THANK THE STARS!!”

“What are you doing here Sans?” Tina asked, looking over and seeing him standing next to Papyrus.

“you-you weren’t moving when papyrus put you in the container.” Sans quickly rubbed his eye socket with his free hand, where Minty was looking down at her from his other hand, more tear stains on his face, “i-i suggested we shake the container, maybe jar you awake?”

“It worked,” she said, toppling to her side in her exhaustion, “I just wish Minty hadn’t been around to see it.”

“I-I only saw you in the container, not moving. Th-then Sans forced me into his pocket and wouldn’t let me come out till Pappy was pouring you out.”

Tina looked away from Minty in surprise, before smiling softly up at Sans. “Thank you.”

Sans smiled back, before moving Minty to his shoulder so he could hug his brother. “thank you papyrus, ju-just thank you.”

Papyrus looked surprised to be hugged, but he quickly wrapped his arms around Sans, silent crying as the two shared the hug. Minty peered down at Tina in cautious fear, but for Tina, she was beyond the point of mental exhaustion and could do nothing more than look at the featureless sink, and think of absolutely nothing.

~*~

When she came to, she had been moved to the kitchen table downstairs, staring at a plate of sandwiches with Minty hugging her through her damp towel, still wearing her blood-stained shirt, if more tolerable now. Sans was off to the side, trying to encourage both bitties to eat, and Papyrus…

Papyrus was gone.

“As soon as he saw that you were okay, and that you had your lunch in front of you, he left to get supplies.” Minty moved to peer into her eyes, his gaze searching, “He-he asked you if you were okay and if he should stay behind?”

“I didn’t hear that.”

“i thought as much.” nodded Sans from across the table, “which is why i told paps to go ahead and get what he needs.” He leaned back with a sigh, rubbing his eyes tiredly, “we could all do with an easy day today, but, knowing my bro like i do, he’s not going to rest till he’s got this house built.”

“That’s going to take him all night.” Minty said, retching to take another sandwich, cut for his size.

“longer than that.” Sans retched across and grabbed a large sandwich for himself, “something like that takes a while to get right, especially considering he had to custom make and build a lot of key features in your house, and my bro is nothing if not a perfectionist.”

When he saw that Tina was still not eating, Sans pushed the plate closer to her. “have something, tina.”

Numbly, she grabbed a sandwich and ate it without tasting it, yet, despite doing what he asked, it seemed Sans wasn’t happy about something. Normally, she would have asked, but after today, after last night….

To think, it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since she left Mama Cry’s adoption center, and already, she felt so drained of all her strength.

~*~

Time quickly lost any meaning to Tina as she was guided back onto Sans’s shoulder with Minty after lunch, who proceeded to carry them both to the couch, a movie or something playing in the background. Minty fell asleep once again, and Sans eventually dozed off as well, despite his best efforts to keep an eye on her, but sleep was beyond Tina for the moment.

She didn’t know if she was even capable of sleep anymore. Close her eyes, sure. Trust that she could rest with Sans and curl around Minty, who clung to her even his sleep, and call the whole arrangement the perfect situation for the perfect sleep, okay. Feel how her body wobbled and shivered in strenuous exhaustion she knew followed gruelling hours of nothing but combat fatigues, yes.

So why was she still awake?

And why was thinking of an answer so hard to process, like the mere act of thinking was too hard for her to handle right now?

When the sun had long set and the television kept blaring, the front door opened up to Papyrus, covered in bags upon bags that draped over every inch of his body.

“I’M HOME!” he beamed, struggling to move into the living room with his own bags under his eyes, “AND I’VE BROUGHT SUPPLIES!”

“NEED ANY HELP WITH THAT BRO?” Sans asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Briefly, he looked over at Tina, his eyes tighten as he took in her appearance.

Papyrus shook his head, “I’VE MANAGED TO BRING IN HALF OF WHAT I’VE GOT IN THE CAR, SO I’LL JUST NEED TO DROP THIS STUFF ON THE FLOOR SO I CAN SORT IT OUT MYSELF. IF YOU WANT TO HELP,” He held a bag of Italian fast food, “YOU CAN HELP SERVE UP DINNER FOR YOU, MINTY AND TINA.”

“what about you bro?” Sans asked, standing up and taking the bag from him

Papyrus waved him off, placing the bags on the floor in the room’s corner, “OH, I’M MUCH TOO BUSY! I’M HOPING TO GET THIS HOUSE DONE BY AT LEAST TEN! DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME SANS, I’M PERFECTLY FINE!”

“bro, you haven’t eaten all day.” Sans said, crossing his arms.

“SURE I HAVE! I-I HAD SOMETHING  WHILE I WAS OUT!”

“like what?”

Papyrus looked nervous as he turned to walk back out the front door, “I, UM, I HAD SOME SANDWICHES AS I WAS MAKING THEM!”

“so you’re changing your story then.”

“SANS,” Papyrus stopped at the front door, looking over his shoulder as his concerned and slightly angry brother, “I’M FINE, OKAY?”

“would it really matter if you took just thirty minutes to eat with us as a family?” sans asked, waving the food around.

Papyrus eyes focused on Tina, who stared blankly back, Minty still hugging her side, long after he had woken up.

“SOME THINGS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN FAMILY MEALS SANS.”

And with that, he walked back outside, with Sans letting the hand holding out the food drop to the floor.

~*~

Things were tense between Papyrus and Sans, which carried through to dinner with just Sans. He served them all dinner while Tina and Minty could hear Papyrus shuffling and organising his purchases in the living room. If Sans could hear or was aware of his brother, he gave no outward signs. He still joked with Minty when he managed hit his own eye with a stray noodle, still tried encouraging Tina to say something about the mess Minty had managed to make on both himself and the table, and was still just as disappointed when all Tina could manage was brief gestures of agreement.

Sans put aside a serving of pasta for Papyrus, asking him to eat it, but judging by sound Papyrus made in response, it sounded like he was holding several things in his mouth.

True to form, when Sans had thrown away the fast food rubbish, giving Minty a wet paper towel to clean himself and given the whole table a quick wipe down, all three of them entered to find Papyrus sitting in the middle of an island of wood, power tools, blueprints, electrical wirings, varies pipes, materials, sandpaper, paint and other miscellaneous things.

“AH, TINA!” Papyrus called out, pulling out two sets of pencils and a ruler from between his teeth, “CAN YOU COME OVER HERE FOR A SECOND? I WAS HOPING THAT WE COULD GET STARTED ON THE DESIGN!”

“papyrus,” Sans said exasperated, making his way towards him, “it’s seven at night. there is absolutely no way you are going to get this done in one night.”

“YOU HAVE LITTLE FAITH IN MY CAPABILITIES BROTHER!” Papyrus gestured to the wide range of items in front of him, from bitty-sized furniture to the starts of a light system, “I HAVE EFFECTIVELY USED MY TIME TO ALREADY CREATE THE BARE BASICS. I KNOW THAT I WON’T BE ABLE TO GET EVERYTHING DONE TONIGHT,” he grinned over at Tina, “BUT I CAN MAKE SURE IT WILL BE COMPLETED TO AN ACCEPTABLE STANDARD THAT OUR NEWEST FAMILY MEMBER WILL FEEL SAFE IN.”

“papyrus-“

“WHERE IS SHE GOING TO SLEEP SANS?” Papyrus gestured to his room, “SHE DOESN’T FEEL SAFE IN MY ROOM.”

“what about mine?” Sans suggested looking over at her.

“You want me in your room?” she asked, pulling Minty closer to her.

Sans nodded, “early on, when i first wanted to adopt you, i built a house that i thought you’d like.” He shrugged, “nothing says we can’t build your own house and do it properly, and with more time,” he gave Papyrus a meaningful look, before looking back at her, “but it should do for just the night, right?”

“I-I-,” she looked over at Minty, “what about Minty?”

“more than welcomed, for as long as you both want to.”

Tina looked away from Minty, who was patting her reassuringly, to a grinning Sana and over at a slightly put out Papyrus, before she looked back to the door that lead to Papyrus’s door.

“Can’t-can’t I just sleep somewhere without either one of you know where?” She looked back at them, “Just for tonight?”

“i don’t know-“

Papyrus interpreted Sans’s response, “OF COURSE YOU CAN! ESPECIALLY IF THAT MAKES YOU FEEL SAFE! IN FACT,”   he lent over and grabbed a shopping bag, upending it onto the table, “I MANAGED TO GET YOU THREE SETS OF EVERYTHING YOU ASKED FOR AND MORE!”

And so he had.

Three phones, three small sewing kits, three sets of material samples, three sets of simple bitty clothing, three long-lasting mussel bars, three sets of small- bitty sized water bottles, and three sets of backpacks that she knew would fit her size.

She looked up at Papyrus, shocked.

He grinned, “IS THIS MAKES YOU FEEL JUST A BIT SAFE HERE IN THIS HOUSE, THEN IT WAS WORTH TRAVELLING TO SEVERAL SHOPS LOOKING FOR JUST THE RIGHT SUPPLIES! WE CAN LEAVE THEM WHERE EVER YOU WANT, SOMEWHERE ONLY YOU CAN REACH THEM, IF YOU’D LIKE!”

Tina jumped to the table, stumbling as she landed before quickly falling over.

“TINA!” Papyrus cried, already reaching for her.

Sans quickly grabbed his hand, high above her, “paps, you’ve got to stop trying to grab her all the time.” He gently let go of Papyrus’s hand, “you need to pull back that instinct to just wanna help and ask first.”

“I-I KNOW THAT.” Papyrus pulled his hand into his chest, looking lost, “IT’S-IT’S JUST FEELS WRONG NOT TO HELP, YOU KNOW?”

Sans smiled softly, “i know bro, i know.” He looked down to see Tina on her feet. “how ya doing kid?”

She shrugged, honestly not feeling particularly troubled by the fall; even if she didn’t know what worse pain felt like, bitties were known for falling quite a distance and just brushing it off.

As she moved towards the items, keenly aware she was being watched and just how much her legs wobbled and her sense of straight was tilted, Papyrus asked, sadly, “HOW MUCH SLEEP HAS SHE GOTTEN?”

“not enough.” Sans sighed, looking up from Tina checking and packing away three sets of items into three sets of bags, “what about you?”

“ME?” Papyrus asked in surprise.

Sans nodded, seriously, “papyrus, you were up early this morning, making that breakfast feast. you’ve been running ever since.”

“I DIDN’T RUN TO THE CITY SANS-“

“i meant both physically and mentally, papyrus.” He reached over and patted his brother’s shoulder, “you need to stop tonight and take the rest of the night off. you have work tomorrow, and i swear, if you don’t go to bed right now, i’ll cal undyne myself and tell her you’re sick.”

“I’M NOT GOING TO BED SANS UNTIL TINA’S HOUSE IS BUILT.” Papyrus looked away from Sans’s fallen expression to smile at Tina with bags still under his eyes, “STOP WORRYING ABOUT ME, BROTHER! I’M FINE! TINA IS GOING TO HELP ME DESIGN THE BESTEST, MOST SECURE BITTY HOUSE THAT EVER EXISTED AND WE CAN ALL START LIVING AND TRUSTING EACH OTHER LIKE A REAL FAMILY!”

Sans eyes tightened, and it seemed like he wanted to say more, but it was like watching a balloon suddenly getting all of its air let out as he dropped the issue.

“okay, fine then.” He looked over a Tina, thumbing towards the couch, “me and the kid are just going to be over there, watching something. call out if you have any problems?”

When she nodded, Sans shuffled away, taking a confused Minty with him.

Tina looked away from the pair settling into the couch to a Papyrus beaming above her.

Still beaming, he lowered his face till he was on her eye level, “READY TO GET STARTED? THERE’S A LOT TO BE DONE, AND I WANT YOU TO FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH EVERY ASPECT OF THIS HOUSE!”

~*~

Papyrus pulled out several sets of blueprint paper, a different basic house set up already drawn on each. He had Tina pick her favourite, but she didn’t have an opinion on any of them, so she went with the one that looked like it would be harder to smash open. Her answer had obviously hurt Papyrus's feeling, but he quickly brushed that off to ask about possible redesigning elements she wanted. When she said she’d prefer a house with windows too small for her to get out easily, he had looked confused but hadn’t pushed the issue, marking the change on the blueprint. Nor did he ask about why the house had several hidden entrances and exits, or why she wanted the house to have plenty of walls with peer holes to peer through. He tried convincing her tinted windows wasn’t necessary, but easily relented when she wasn’t convinced.

While he got to work cutting out pieces of wood, piping and other structure things out in the garage, Tina was returned to sit with Sans after being thoroughly thanked for her input and reassured multiple times that the house would be done before it got too late. Indeed, it seemed like Papyrus was back far quicker than Tina could have imagined, carrying in the new wooden bitty house as the hour ticked past midnight, the smell of sawdust and drying glue hanging in the air.

“TINA!” Papyrus cried out, staggering in under the weight of a house that had been heavily reinforced, reinforcement she had asked for, “WHAT DO YOU THINK? ISN’T THIS JUST THE SAFEST HOUSE THAT HAS EVEN BEEN BUILT?”

“papyrus.” When Papyrus looked over, it was to Sans miming silence and Minty asleep in Tina’s lap.

Papyrus eyes softened as he watched Minty breathe gently, but he quickly gasped when Sans mentioned that it was time for everyone to go to bed.

“WHAT?? YOU CAN’T GO TO BED NOW! THE NIGHT’S STILL YOUNG!”

“check again bro.” Sans replied, getting up slowly, trying to keep his balance so that neither the sleeping Minty or the zombie Tina toppled off.

Whirling around, Papyrus’s argument died when he saw the time, his expression twisting in heartbreaking disappear.

“I-I THOUGHT I HAD MORE TIME!” he whispered in horror.

“bro, there’s always more time tomorrow.” He looked over at Tina, who had one arm wrapped around Minty and another wrapped around the three bag straps filled with supplies, “well, you said that you wanted to sleep somewhere private and secrete from us. can i carry you somewhere at least?”

Tina didn’t respond, her eyes just following Sans’s hand when he waved it in front of her.

“kid?”

Still no response.

Sighing heavily, he looked to his bedroom before looking at Papyrus.

“PAPYRUS-“

But Papyrus held out his hand, turning to look at the still to be finished bitty house.

“I’M NOT GOING TO BED TILL I’VE GOT THIS DONE SANS.” He glanced over at him, before looking quickly away as his shoulders tensed, “I-I JUST CAN’T.”

“okay.” Sans briefly hugged his unresponsive brother, before turning to climb the stairs.

He stopped on the landing, looking around. When his eyes focused on the lien press, Sans’s eyes lighten up as an idea hit him. Moving to pick Tina, Minty and all of those bags off his shoulder, he gently placed them to the ground, before open the linen door and standing back, watching.

For Tina, the dark entrance was safety, and her exhausted brain recognised it as an ideal place to crash, to hide away and allow herself to be exposed for just a few hours. Hicking Minty more into her arms, she carried him and dragged the bags over and into the linen press, placing him gently on a soft surface and unaware that the door behind her swung closed, letting in just the barest sliver of light and air.

For Sans, seeing Tina carry Minty into the lien press as if she was in a daze was heartbreaking. No matter how he tried, he hadn’t been able to get her to relax, to rest, no matter what he did.

Even pretending to sleep hadn’t worked.

Looking over the railing, Sans watched as Papyrus continued to toil just below him, the lone reading lamp lighting his futile attempts to make everything perfect in time.

“bro, please-“

“GOODNIGHT SANS.”

Resigned, Sans turned to his room, and disappeared inside.

~*~

Tina didn’t know how long she was in what appeared to be a linen press, or how she got here.

All that she knew was she had either falling asleep sitting up while watching over Minty, or she hadn’t at all. Regardless, the time she had spent here allowed her mind to relax, taking her away from impulse and instinctual survival, and she felt more like her thinking self.

Herself, functioning without proper rest for far longer than she should have gone without.

But sleep wasn’t coming to her, not even now in what felt like a safe place.

Something was keeping her awake; something that nagged in the back of her mind.

Guided by a feeling, rather than any actual plan, Tina gently removed herself from the nest she had made for Minty and took a moment to just watch him sleep. Thus reassured, she walked over to the giant door, pushing it open enough to squeeze through.

Like a month to a flame, Tina saw a light glowing in the dark, coming from somewhere below and beyond the stair railings. Stumbling towards them, Tina eventually made it to a railing and slide down, sitting with both hands and face pressed against it as her eyes wandered downstairs.

Just below her, Papyrus was silently crying as he soldered up a wiring system that was in shambles before him.

Tina watched him for a moment, saw how, despite his tears, he looked angry, frustrated and exhausted, which confused her. When he made an apparent mistake and cursed at himself, calling himself useless, Tina’s eyes lit up in understanding; he was disappointed with himself. Disappointed to the point of self-loathing.

“Papyrus?”

Papyrus's head shot up, his surprised, quivering eye lights focusing on her face. Hurriedly, he looked away, trying to wipe his eyes subtly.

“T-TINA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP??”

“Couldn’t sleep.” She admitted, with no thought.

Papyrus’s brow frowned in frustration as he glared at his hands. “I KNOW.”

Quickly, he looked up at her, pleading, “I AM SO SORRY! I-I THOUGHT I COULD THIS DONE IN TIME,” his head dropped, “BUT I JUST COULDN’T.”

Tina watched as his shoulder shook, how his head stayed bowed and it seemed to her like he might be crying again. Or, at least trying not to.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if you had.” She said, quietly.

Papyrus looked up at her, searching her expression. After a while, his face crumpled and he sobbed into his hands.

Tina watched him, passively, and without emotion.

“I-I’M JUST THE WORSE, AREN’T I?” he sobbed eventually, wiping his eyes with the palm of his hand, “I-I DON’T KNOW WHY I THOUGHT I COULD FIX ALL MY MISTAKES WITH JUST A HOUSE!” He buried his face into his hands, leaning on the table as he cried out, “I-I WAS JUST SO SCARED! WHEN I SAW THAT MINTY AND YOU WERE GONE, I-I---I-!”

Orange tears were leaking through his gloves, his shoulders shuddering as waves of grief poured out of him. Eventually, he slammed a fist to the table, waving his other hand up at her as tears openly poured from his sockets, “AND SO THE ‘GREAT’ PAPYRUS FAILS TO HELP ANOTHER PERSON! TOO SCARED AND USELESS FOR HIS BROTHER, FOR MINTY, FOR YOU! SANS HATES ME, I JUST KNOW IT! Y-YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HIM WHEN I HAD TO TELL HIM THAT I LOST YOU. ME! HIS OWN BROTHER! A MONSTER WHO HE TRUSTED AND PROMISED THIS WOULD ALL WORK OUT, AND I JUST KEEP MAKING IT WORSE!!”

Papyrus flipped the table, scattering everything on it across the room and he pushed himself back against the wall below her, pulling his knees up to his chest as he sobbed.

After a while, watching him as he cried, she didn’t know why she felt compelled to say something, but Tina found herself saying aloud, “The house doesn’t mean anywhere near as much to me as seeing you like this Papyrus.”

She looked away from the still huddle skeleton and looked towards the front window, noting the light outside was just starting to get bright again.

“Things don’t matter to me, they never have. Nor does someone’s ability to give me things in such a short amount of time mean much to me. What matters is that they’re honest, and I can trust them.”

She looked down to see Papyrus peering up at her.

“My last owner, he-well, he was always so strange with his emotions, even before I figured out what he planned for me. When he found me on the street, he made it seem like he honestly wanted to help me, so I trusted him. He kept giving me all these things, that were wonderful to me just because they weren’t rubbish.”

She sighed, “And then my ‘training’ started, and I saw how I had been made calm with little trinkets. I  learned to hate when he was calm and in control, because that meant I couldn’t trust anything around me. Not my surrounding, not my food, and certainly not him.”

She leaned heavily on the rail, “this might sound strange, but I liked it best when I mad him so angry he’d actually pick me up and throw me against the wall. I liked it best, because I knew exactly what was going to happen to me, and I didn’t have to constantly second guess myself and dread what new plan he was coming up with to break me down. He was never so honest with me then when I pushed him to his breaking point.” She smiled down at Papyrus, “I know this is sick of me, but seeing you break down so completely, settles me Papyrus. Makes me trust you. Makes me believe that this is really you, and not just some act I have to second guess. You’re not trying to appeal to me by giving me everything I never wanted, you’re not trying to be my best friend without knowing much about me. You, right now, are so completely open and honest with your emotions, the toil this has all had on you, and I am so grateful that I saw this. Seeing how much this matters to you, how much my trust matters to you, means the world to me in a way I didn’t think it would.”

She rubbed her eyes quickly, before grinning back at the shocked monster, “Thank you Papyrus.”

Papyrus could only gape at her for a long time, before orange tears quickly spilled over his cheeks again, and the two cried in relative silence, lest the wake their loved ones.

 

Next chapter is called: A day of rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back and MAN did I miss writing!!  
> Okay, two new things; First up, I am now doing in character responses on my Discord server!! This means you can ask any of the characters, from any of my stories, questions/do something /say something to them, and I'll respond as that character! I've already had some amazing people ask me some interesting questions that really helped me figure more about these guys and it's been a butt load of fun for me. Check out the rules to figure out the 'how to', or ask around; I can name several people who would more than help you =) (You know who you are, ya sweethearts!)  
> Second thing; I have another story!! I know, WTF, right? It's called Bitty Hunt Shenanigans, and as I'm sure you've already guessed, it's the place where I'll put POV, What-if's and general requests that I get for Bitty Hunt. So if you've got something you'd like to see, make sure to leave a comment, explaining it over with that story. With that story, the more people who comment on your idea and express a 'Wow, I'd like to see that too!' the more likely I'll be inclined to do it.....or I might see your idea and think 'Oh, I just HAVE to write this!'. It's going to be updated when I feel like it/ have time, so don't expect it to update automatically on Saturdays; I'll update as I complete requests, so check it out more regularly, I guess (*Shrug*).
> 
> I'm so sorry I missed June, and I really to make it up! Problem is, I'm still busy. Although, I have more time now, so I'm hoping to get a second update this month, but no promises. As always, I'll update the five main stories on a Saturday, so check in then.  
> All I can say is I'm keen to get back into writing =)!


	15. A day of rest

Tina awoke to find herself wrapped in a red scarf, waking up in what appeared to be Papyrus’s lap as he slept upright, leaning against the wall. Her entire body ached, and she could feel just how exhausted and unrested she was, fighting against falling asleep again as she looked around. She could tell it was still morning, but the strange part was how she had ended up on the ground floor with Papyrus. Hadn’t she been upstairs, leaning against the railing?

She was blanking on the ‘falling’ asleep part; the last thing she could remember was just staring out the front window as tears dried on her cheeks, Papyrus doing much of the same thing below her.

The sound of Sans’s murmuring coming from the kitchen cued Tina into what had woken her up, if not how she had gotten here. Soon, he came out, looking surprised to see her awake, but was quick to mime him getting her with a questioning look.

Look back up at Papyrus face and remembering last night, she felt…safe enough to stay. Minty was safe up in the lien press and the only possible threat to him (or her) was right here, dozing in a deep sleep.

Not that she could honestly call Papyrus a threat anymore. Or, at least, no more than Sans, Mama Cry or indeed anyone else bigger than her in this world.

Seeing her nod, Sans smiled gently at her, and it seemed to her that some of the tension eased from his face and shoulders. After communicating to her about going back upstairs, Tina watched Sans make his way slowly upstairs, looking one last time down at her as he leaned over the upstair’s railing.

Returning his smile softly, Tina nuzzled back into the scarf, falling quickly back to sleep.

~*~

When she woke again, she was surprised to see the world dark outside, with the only light coming from a lone lamp over by the crouch, where Sans was sitting, quietly reading. She was still laying in Papyrus’s lap, with the monster in question also reading a book in the near dark.

“What time is it?”

Papyrus looked quickly away from his book, beaming at her as he marked his page and placed the book to his side, “GOOD EVENING TINA! I HOPE YOU SLEPT WELL? IT-IT WAS GOOD TO SEE YOU REST…WITH ME.”

“I don’t remember doing that.” She admitted, sitting up as Sans came over.

“YOU-YOU…FELL.” Papyrus looked up, over to the spot she knew she had been when they last talked, “I-I THINK YOU FELL ASLEEP AND YOU JUST, KIND OF, TOPPLED DOWN HERE.”

There was a moment of silence.

“I guess that explains some of the dulls aches.” She said, feeling several bruise spots on her body.

Papyrus rubbed the top of his head, “YOU DIDN’T WAKE UP WHEN YOU FELL ON TOP OF MY HEAD. STARS, I HAVE NEVER SCREAMED SO LOUD!”

“certainly loud enough to startle me out of bed.” Sans said, coming to sit on the other side on Papyrus.

“Where’s Minty?” Tina asked, searching his shoulders.

He pointed to a lump in his jacket’s pocket.

“I HOPE YOU’RE NOT UPSET WITH ME, TINA.” Papyrus said in a small voice.

She turned to him, surprised, “Why would I be upset?”

“I-I WASN‘T SURE WHERE TO PLACE YOU OR WHERE YOU WOULD FEEL COMFORTABLE…SO I JUST... KEPT YOU WITH ME.”

“Have- have you spent the whole day here?” she asked in awed disbelief.

He nodded.

“How long was I out?” she asked, looking between the brothers.

“we’re coming up to 3 am right now.” Sans smiled softly down at her, “it’s been about twenty hours since i saw you in the morning. had to send mama cry a picture every now and then to keep her happy.”

“Twenty hours??” She looked quickly up at Papyrus, “Why didn’t you move me? Get up or at least put yourself in a more comfortable position??”

“I DIDN’T WANT TO WAKE YOU.” He said simply.

Tina felt something ache in her soul, but still, she replied, crossly, “That’s no reason you neglect yourself. I would have been fine, but you? How sore is your back right now?”

“…IT’S ONLY A LITTLE STIFF.”

“Papyrus-“

“cut him some slack kid.” Sans piped up, interrupting her, “everyone’s still trying to get use this, and after the events with that old couple and everything that happened after…”

She knew he was right, but seeing Papyrus do this to himself, including the near-torture of trying to build her house in time?

“Okay, fine.” She looked away from Sans and over at Papyrus, “Well, I’m awake now, so you can look after yourself properly now. Right?”

“CERTAINLY!”

Sans offered her his hand, which she quickly stepped onto,  before making her way up his shoulder where she watched Papyrus stand on his feet, groaned as he clutched at his spine. Soon, he was rubbing his hands together and looking over at the pile of things surrounding her half-built house, tucked neatly into an out-of-the-way pile with renewed energy.

“A QUICK SHOWER, AND PERHAPS A NICE TEA, AND I’LL GET THIS THING COMPLETED IN THE NEXT-“

“If you don’t say ‘weeks’ or ‘months’, then you can forget about me wanting to be in it.” She replied angrily.

Papyrus deflated, “BUT, I SAID-“

“How am I suppose to want to live in a house that you built through tears and pain?” Her eyes softened, “I’d much rather work with you and be a part of the process myself, and that we take our time with it and do it right.”

“BUT WHERE WILL YOU SLEEP UNTIL THEN?” Papyrus asked, his eyes wobbling again as he glanced at Sans’s lumpy pocket.

She hesitated, loath to reveal the nice, dark, and safe spot she found in their lien press.

“you don’t have to tell us-“ Sans started, but she interpreted.

“The lien press.” She looked down at Minty’s hidden sleeping form too, “That’s where we’ve been hiding.”

“AT-AT LEAST THAT’S SOFT AND CLEAN.” Papyrus admitted glumly.

There was an awkward pause.

“i think it’s time we all head to bed.” Sans focused intently at Papyrus, “right paps?”

He nodded, if not looking happier than he did at seeing her wake up. Still, he did passively follow Sans up the stairs, standing at his door as Sans lowered Tina to the floor, before pulling out a sleeping Minty from his pocket, who clung to her like a kola the moment she had him in her arms. He watched as Sans opened the lien door and Tina walked inside, saying goodnight to both brothers.

Only, what he didn’t see her do, was how, after the brothers said goodnight to each other and closed their own bedroom doors, Tina came back out, dragging a small towel. She struggled to close the lien press door, before placing herself in front of it, guarding the entrance. Wrapping herself in the towel and adjusting it so that a lump formed a pillow, she thought about how close she had been from hurting Minty, Papyrus, or indeed anyone who woke her up in her sleep.

There was a reason why she slept alone, behind locked doors, while all the other bitty children slept in a room together.

~*~

She was one of the first ones to wake up in the morning, and the first one downstairs, finishing her conversation with Mama Cry on one of the phones Papyrus had gotten for her. It had taken a long time, with many backtracking conversation threads, suggesting ideas and a lot of reassurance, but by its end, Tina had her convinced that this is where she wanted to be, that things were rough the last few days sure, but it was unfair to have expected they would have been otherwise.

Papyrus had come downstairs during this conversation, smiling awkwardly at her, before disappearing into the kitchen. Tina had smiled and waved, but her attention went back to her phone conversation and defending herself against Mama Cry insisting she was fixating on Minty and that’s why she wanted to be there.

She would have been lying if she said that him being here wasn’t part of what kept her here, but the part that screamed at her he was in danger didn’t feel honest anymore. It had gone back to how it had been shortly after Minty was first adopted. Papyrus was…legit, and that did honestly scare her a little bit. His honest desire to see her happy made no sense to her, and part of her was screaming at her to run as far as she could from another ‘too-good-to-be-true’ situation, yet, here she was.

In many ways, he reminded her of Mama Cry herself; wanting nothing more than to help, and that was something she just couldn’t understand, thus she feared it. Hate, fear, indifference, self-preservation; these she could understand and even respect as a selfish survivor herself. Kindness without expecting anything in return…what she wanted was a way of paying him back. Something she could hand him that would make them even. Something she could willingly offer now instead of having something forcibly taken from her later.

Thinking like this, this was part of the reason why she hadn’t trusted Sans when he had come to see her during that first sole visit. It had taken many weeks of waiting for him to either get bored seeing her or slipping up and inadvertently admitting what he wanted before she began to feel comfortable around him, her paranoia itself getting bored of waiting. Hearing him admit that he liked her strength, her ability to survive and live on after the bitty fights, that she made him feel hopeful for himself…almost made her feel prideful of herself.

Now Papyrus had adopted her himself, doing all of these things for her, and she wanted to know more of what she could expect from him.

Ending her conversation with Mama Cry with reassurances that she would call again tomorrow, and indeed, whenever she needed to, Tina put the phone back into the bag of supplies she had hidden under the couch, before making her way to the kitchen.

Papyrus was making pancakes, a lot less energy she had seen him cooking with Minty just a couple of nights ago.

“Papyrus?”

He turned away from flipping to look at her, offering only a small smile.

“GOOD MORNING, TINA.”

She struggled to climb up a chair, watching how Papyrus made to help her, but thought better of it and quickly turned back to the pancakes.

“How was your sleep?” she asked, after a moment.

His shoulders sagged, “NOT THAT GOOD, ACTUALLY.”

She suspected as much, if the bags under his eyes were anything to go on.

“Thank you for telling the truth.”

“I REMEMBERED WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT YOUR LAST OWNER.” He turned to face her, done with cooking and bringing over food and utensils to the table, “THE ONE THAT YOU COULDN’T TRUST?”

Tina flinched, as she always did when this particular conversation came up.

Papyrus sighed heavily, sitting down and serving his and her breakfast, “I ALSO THOUGHT ABOUT HOW YOU THOUGHT I WAS A LIAR.”

“It not that I thought you were a liar,” she quickly amended, “I just believed your desire to befriend me is forced and insincere.”

“IS?” he asked, quietly.

She looked down at her pancakes.

“….Was.” she corrected, before looking quickly up, “but I still don’t understand why you're bothering to in the first place.”

“DIDN’T I ALREADY TELL YOU WHY? BACK AT MAMA CRY’S?” He leaned forward, towards her, “YOU MAKE SANS AND MINTY REALLY HAPPY, AND THAT’S MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR ME.”

“But nothing personal for you? You, specifically.”

Papyrus poured her some juice to go with her bitty sized breakfast, placing it at the bitty table she was sitting at, “SEEING MINTY AND SANS IS MY HAPPINESS.” He beamed at her, “SEEING YOU HAPPY IS NOW MY HAPPINESS TOO.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense.” She looked up, “I can get getting happiness from seeing loved ones happy; that’s how I feel when I see Minty happy, but you’ve basically just met me. How can I be included in that list?”

“I JUST LIKE HELPING PEOPLE! I ALWAYS HAVE.” When he could tell she wasn’t happy with that answer, he stopped cutting his food to look at her, “I LOVE AND TRUST SANS, AND DURING MY ADOPTING PROGRESS WITH MINTY, I GREW TO LOVE AND TRUST MINTY TOO. SO, IF IT HELPS, TRY TO THINK ABOUT HOW IF THE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE THAT YOU LOVE AND TRUSTED LIKED THE SAME PERSON, WHETHER OR NOT YOU WOULD LOVE AND TRUST THEM AUTOMATICALLY TOO.”

She thought about it. Thinking about this whole situation from that perspective helped eased her fear and doubts, even if it was foreign to her.

“That-that’s still isn’t that personal.” She gestured to the both of them, “ At least, between us.”

Papyrus grinned, “I’M WILLING AND WANTING TO CHANGE THAT!” HE LOOKED NERVOUSLY AWAY, “IF-IF YOU WANT TO, OF COURSE! I’M, ER, NOT SO GOOD AT CONTROLLING MY IMPULSES, BUT!” he cried, looking eagerly back at her, “I’M WILLING TO TRY MY HARDEST!”

She smiled gratefully up at him, realising in her heart that he had already seen her at her near worst, and yet, here he still was. That....helped, strangely enough, and she suddenly found herself wanting to know him too.

“I’d like that too.” She admitted, quietly.

“EXCELLENT!” Papyrus called out to the living room, “YOU CAN COME OUT OF HIDING BROTHER!”

Tina turned to see Sans walking out the around the kitchen archway, Minty looking shyly on his shoulder as he beamed at the pair of them.

“whoops.” He grinned, coming to sit at the table as Minty hopped off, “guess i’m not as sneaky as i thought.”

“I CAN ALWAYS TELL WHEN YOU’RE UP TO NO GOOD BROTHER, ALWAYS.” Papyrus beamed, pushing over a plate towards him and Minty, who sat cautiously next to Tina, “WHICH IS WHY I’M ALWAYS PREPARED BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS UP TO NO GOOD!”

As Sans snickered, Minty asked her, “Are-are you feeling better?”

Tina considered it, looking from the brothers chuckling together before smiling over at him.

“Yeah. I think I might be feeling just a bit better.”

~*~

Building Tina’s and Minty’s new house was strictly forbidden today by both Sans and Minty, who also informed Papyrus that Undyne had been called and that not only was he not allowed to come into work until next week, but he had been ordered by Undyne to ‘Relax you, goober!!’. Papyrus had half heartedly argued back, but when he had been faced by three pairs of scowling faces, he quickly relented. Thus subdued, Sans declared today a ‘lazy’ day, where the only activities that were allowed had to be things you could do while sitting.

Papyrus settled for doing a puzzle on the floor, with Minty helping him, Sans was reading his book on the couch and Tina alternated from activity to activity, just watching whoever she happened to be near. She had politely declined to participate in any activity, far preferring to just watch, but when Minty eventually pushed her into admitting that she wanted to draw, Papyrus had been the one to run to his room, quickly running back down with all her pencils and sketchbooks.

Including the one she had forgotten to hidden away. The one filled with faces from her nightmares.

This notebook had been safely tucked away between her other notebooks, refusing to make eye contact with anyone as they all noted her odd behaviour. Instead, Sans had suggested she sit up with him to get a better angle, and she had been grateful towards him for not hounding her on this.

Tina rather enjoyed sketching Minty and Papyrus playfully arguing about whether or not the puzzle piece in Minty’s hand was a beak or an eye. Sans, she suspected, was watching them too, but soon, he had marked his spot and was leaning towards her.

She turned to face him, but his eyes were looking at her sketch.

“great pic tina.”

“Thanks.” She murmured, closing it, only for him to stop her with one of his phalanges.

“i’m not talking about how well you’ve copied down what you can see, i’m specially talking about the feel of it.” He looked at her, “there’s a hint of hope there?”

“Hope?”

He nodded, “last picture i saw of these two together, i could tell there was a lot of pain. you-you where sad to see them happy.”

“…The second last visit.” She turned to look at him, “The one before Minty was adopted. I-I didn't realise you’d been watching me that closely.”

He shrugged, “i took a quick glance. like i told you, it wasn’t till after the adoption that i decided i wanted to adopt you.”

“All of this is still surreal to me.” She admitted, opening the sketchbook and flipping between the two sketches in question, “I’ve always known that adoption is really good for children….but I was so sad and hurt back then. Sad for me, understanding on some level that if he was adopted, I’d be spending the rest of my life alone.”

“couldn’t you have just bonded with someone else?” he asked.

Tina laughed, “You make it seem like I picked him.” Smiling, she looked over at the laughing boy, wrestling to keep the piece in as Papyrus tried prying it out to put his in, “On the contrary, he was the one to come to me. Wouldn’t leave me alone either. Said I ‘looked sad’.” She grinned up at him, "Guess you could say I'm well versed being pested by people wanting to know me more."

He smiled back, before looking back at the sketch she had open from the second last visit from Minty's adoption.

“…i would have said the same thing he did about you, the day after his adoption.” He offered his hand, which surprised her, but she quickly jumped on.

He raised her up to his chest, humming deeply before whispering, “but i’m not seeing any of that sadness now. a lot of pain, confusion and doubt, yes, but no sadness.”

“And hope?” she asked softly, holding tightly to her sketchbooks to her chest.

He smiled softly down at her, “i think that’s always been there.”

He got a faraway look on his face as he lifted her to his shoulder and stood up from the couch, “no, i know you’ve always been hopeful. no one goes through what you have day after day without some hope that it ends eventually.”

“Sans?” she asked, knowing he was talking about himself now.

Whatever he was talking about, it was horrible. Something life changing and horrible.

Something that made him feel like he had a connection to a bitty murder who was tortured.

He shook his head, grinning as whatever he had been thinking was hidden behind that smile of his, “trust me kid, you’re in a much better place today than you were on the last days you were spending at mama cry’s.”

Before she could ask him whatever had gotten him in such a strange mood, he was calling out to Papyrus and Minty, “I’m making lunch today and I’m thinking of frying up some dogs. That works for you two?”

“The hotdogs with the faces?!” Minty cried, abandoning his puzzle to come running over to him.

“a-yep.” Sans bent down and scooped Minty, who ran along his arm to fling himself into Tina’s arms. Seeing Minty snuggle her, he grinned over at Papyrus, “what do you say paps? i cook up some dogs and you pick something to watch?”

Papyrus looked between Tina and Sans, before sighing and nodding, gathering the puzzle pieces to him.

Sighing, Sans moved into the kitchen, gathering the things he needed to get cooking.

“Papyrus thinks you still don’t like him.” Minty whispered to her.

Sans shook his head sadly, “nah, he’s just unsure what to do now. he's used to having plans, something he can do to work towards a goal or something.” He turned to face the bitties on his shoulder, “but right now, he’s got no idea how to approach you tina.”

“What would you suggest to him Sans?” she asked, really not knowing what the best approach to her was. Everything she thought of left a foul taste in her mouth and made her feel like it was some form of manipulation.

Sans put on the pan, dumping several weird looking hotdogs onto it, “i’d suggest asking you.”

“It-it’s not that simple Sans.” She held her hand out to him, imploringly, “It took a really long time for me to ease up to you. I really can’t think of anything that makes this go away soon.”

“no one expects there to be a quick fix to this.” Sans agreed, turning the hotdogs over, “but you did say you’d be willing to try tina.”

“Doesn’t mean I know what ‘trying’ looks like.” She mumbled.

Minty hugged her, “Pappy isn’t so hard to like. Just join in more activities instead of sitting back and drawing us.”

“That easy, huh?”

He grinned, “Of course!”

Before long, Sans had finished cooking up the hotdogs, which he placed into buns and carried out, along with several plates and condiments. Papyrus was waiting for them, a children's animated movie ready to start. Once everyone was seated, he pressed play and watched the movie along with everyone else, smiling when Minty choose to sit with him. Tina watched Minty and Papyrus just as much as she watched the movie, thinking about how she did what to ease the tension she created with Papyrus and what she could do about it. While she wasn’t inclined to believe it would be as simple as Minty said, she figured it was worth a shot.

But first, she had to ask Sans something.

Long after they had all finished their lunch, but while they were all quietly enjoying the movie, Tina made her way from the table, over to Sans’s shoulder.

She sat there for a few moments, before asking, “Sans, what happened to you?”

He chuckled, “i got older, fatter, and slower.” He sighed heavily, “i’m not as young as i use to be.”

“MAYBE IF YOU ACTUALLY ATTENDED SOME SESSIONS WITH ME IN THE MORNING, YOU’D BE IN BETTER SHAPE!” Papyrus said, glaring at Sans from the corner of his eyes.

Sans shrugged, “running late for everything counts as exercise, doesn't it?”

“NO, IT DOES NOT!”

Sans and Minty chuckled and shared a grin as Papyrus sulked before everyone returned their attention to the movie.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Tina whispered to Sans under her breath.

Sans sighed, before standing up.

“anyone else want a drink?” he asked, thumbing towards the kitchen.

“Oh! I’d like something with the bubbles in it!” Minty cried out.

“A TEA WOULD BE NICE.” Admitted Papyrus, looking over, “NEED ME TO HELP?”

“i think i know how to boil water paps.” Sans said, a bit exasperated as he headed towards the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, he began to boil the kettle, gathering everyone’s drinks.

“what about you tina?”

“I’d like an answer,” she replied, “even if it’s just to be told to mind my own business.”

“that’s not it at all.” He sighed, leaning against the kitchen table.

There was a moment of silence as they waited for the kettle to boil and the sound of the movie playing continued on in the background.

“…kid-tina. i want to tell you, i do, and i’m not just saying that to make you feel better.” He looked over at her seriously, heartbreaking concern in his eyes, “but try to understand why i don’t want to open up to you now. not after what we’ve all been through recently. give it a couple of days, let us all heal up and recover, and then i’ll tell you my story, properly.”

“You think things are ever ‘settle’?” She asked as the kettle finished boiling.

Sans began to make Papyrus’s tea, smiling gently, “sure. just got to hold on for a bit longer and ease into daily life here. you know, actually settling in and feeling like part of the family.”

“Not sure that’s possible for me Sans.” She admitted.

“well, i do, and you should too. if nothing else, you’ve got minty, and you know you do.”

Sand carried the drinks back into the room, handing Minty his bitty cup of soft drink and Papyrus his tea, both looking excited at their drinks. Chuckling, Sans dumped himself on his side of the couch, cracking open his can he had gotten for himself, before handing her a cup as well.

Tina enjoyed both her drink and the movie, thinking about what Sans might tell her, what his story might be and the idea of things actually settling to the point he would feel comfortable sharing with her. Part of her felt…happy, that he wanted to open up to her, even if doing so had to mean something horrible happened to him, but the larger part still doubted she would ever feel comfortable anywhere, let alone like 'family'.

Still, this was not a day to try and fix every single thing or issue. No, Sans had said it best earlier today; today was a lazy day.

What came after today, well, she could deal with it when it happened.

 

Next chapter is called: Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY STARS!   
> I'm back and stuff happened at the wrong time that I knew would make me late, so I made the decision to take my time and deal with that first before worrying about this update cylce. I'm so sorry for the wall of silence and the many people concerned about me (greatly appreciate it guys *sob!*), but I'm back now, so things should settle down. I'm going to need a day or two to get back into the swing of things, but basically, I haven't been online since Monday last week.  
> Either way, I hope you enjoy this update!


	16. Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All my stories got wiped out about two days before the update schedule and I was crushed! So I took some time off, did these updates as good as I could (Hard to write something twice and not feel like it was better the first time), and now I've got October to look forward to!   
> I've been planning something fun for a while!  
> Hope to see you all in October!!

Tina had to admit that Minty was correct after all; all she needed to do, in order to get closer to Papyrus, was participate in more activities with him. Small things like watching him cook breakfast in the morning, help him teaching Minty to read, and working on their house together in between all the other activities that the family got into, helped settle her and made her feel more comfortable around the monster. As the two got closer, she found she rather enjoyed his company; his boisterous, confident nature was always kind heartened at its core, and he was very good at making her feel like everything was okay, that she could believe in herself because his belief was so absolute. A first, she had thought him to be simple-minded, but there were times when he would say something to her during those times her old memories were brought back that made her think he, himself, understood her on some empathetic level too. Once she had come to that conclusion, it drastically changed how she saw his constant upbeat and self-assured nature. From smiling at a kid who just didn’t know any better, to idealising an adult who was truly okay with himself.

By far, she enjoyed any time when Sans and Papyrus were in the same room together. It hadn’t taken her long to be cued into their brotherly dynamic that made hanging out with them the highlight of the day. While Sans was certainly a comedian, Papyrus was his (sometimes unwilling, other times intentional) straight man. The love and comfort they found in the other’s presence was undeniable, and it filled something missing inside her to see Minty such an effortless part of it.

Sans himself had obviously relaxed as the week progressed, return slowly back into his laid-back demeanour he once had before…before things had gotten complicated. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about whatever it was that happened to Sans that made him feel like they had a common history, but as the days progressed and life settled, it…almost didn’t feel like it was worth opening old wounds for the sake of complete understanding between them. Tina certainly didn’t want to risk losing what she had now by telling her story. For her, it made…some sense for Mama Cry, Sans, and even Papyrus to like her as they did, because they didn’t know the full story. For her, if they did, either they wouldn’t stand to be near her, or she couldn’t stand to be near them, knowing that they knew.

As the week ended and the new bitty house was finished and set up against a bare space of wall between the brother’s two rooms, Papyrus and Sans returned to work. The first day that they had gone to work, they had asked Tina what she wanted to happen, letting her decide. They explained to her that Minty use to just hang out with Papyrus as he worked, but Tina hadn't liked that idea at all until he suggested she came along with.

Papyrus’s job…was fairly boring, actually. Most, he worked as both a guard and as a perfect representative of the royal guard, guarding the monster ambassador (the now teenager, human Frisk) in an ornamental uniform that was ironed out to perfection. Minty had to wear a uniform too, along with his bitty leash, and the picture of the two beaming at her in both their freshly pressed uniforms had become her phone’s wallpaper. Papyrus had shown her a little pocket that Minty had access to on his uniform (“EXPERTLY ADDED BY YOURS TRULY!” He had said, posing with pride) where he could go it he was tired or in danger (which it had yet to happen). Once the fear of danger had been quenched, Tina had become concerned about Minty’s attention span not being spent out by the day’s end, but between Frisk taking every chance to play with the boy and Papyrus's own dotting, that fear too, was quenched.

Spending time with Sans at his many different jobs was more enjoyable (even if the days Minty was with Papyrus always made her anxious all day). Sometimes he was selling food from stalls at various public locations, sometimes he was worked as a security guard at a mall, and sometimes he would literally take jobs from that morning’s paper and could add another profession to the long list of jobs he had at some point.

“it keeps me busy.” He had said with a shrug, when she had asked him about why he had so many different jobs.

Whatever his reasons, Tina could tell that any day she went with him became his favourite…and hers. Put simply, they enjoyed each other’s company, both feeling more relaxed and at ease, and it became quite common for Sans to take naps during lulls of activities while Tina rested against his skull, drawing something new.

Today, on a sunny weekend, Papyrus had suggested that they all got out to the nearby park. Tina had her doubts and fears, but one, puppy-eye looked from Minty, and she quickly caved in.

The park itself was beautiful, filled mostly with monsters and a few humans, with huge open fields, plenty of trees, and both a children's and a bitty playground. Both Minty and Tina were already familiar with this particular park (because Minty had already visited it before Tina’s adoption while Tina had been here with both Mama Cry during out days and Sans as he made quite a bit of money selling his food here), but this was the first time the two bitties had come together.

The first time Tina saw what Minty’s and Papyrus’s favourite activity was.

“Bitty what?” she asked, not quite believing her ears.

“Bitty Flying!” Minty exclaimed, jumping excitedly on Papyrus’s shoulders as he struggled to put together a kite.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

She knew that bitties could fall from great heights, but there was no way she was okay with the idea on Minty hanging from a kite, miles up in the air!

Sans looked over at her on his shoulder, “kid, i promise that it’s perfectly safe. pap’s makes alterations to kites  that keeps the kid from falling-“

“AND MY MAGIC AND INCREDIBLY SHARP SKILLS ARE ALWAYS AT THE READY, IF THE WORST SHOULD COME TO PAST (BUT IT WON’T, BECAUSE I’M JUST TOO PERFECT!)”

Tina looked around the three people against her on this, to turn back to the bitty play area, “Can’t you just have fun playing in there?”

Minty pouted, “I don’t want to wear my bitty leash!”

“You don’t have to, not while you’re in there.”

“You do entering and leaving that place! You know that monsters are sticklers for rules, and Papyrus never makes exceptions for me!”

“THE RULES ARE THERE TO KEEP YOU SAFE.” Papyrus lectured, waggling his finger at the sulking boy, “WHAT IF SOMEONE TRIED SNATCHING YOU? A LARGE BIRD TAKING YOU OFF FOR A SNACK? THEN WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”

“I’d punch the bird in the gut, and escape!” he cried out, posing.

Sans chuckled, “no need for violence kid. paps and i would stop that, long before it happened.” He leaned in towards Tina, “the bitty leash law only applies to crowded, public places, so unless you can convince him to wear on, or want him running through the ground where it’s harder to keep an eye on him, this is really the safest activity.”

She sighed, giving up, “Okay. Okay!” she pointed to the two, “But I reserve the right to change my mind.”

“You won’t!” Minty said, already scaling down Papyrus's arm and strapping himself into the little makeshift pocket attached on the kite’s underside. Once Papyrus checked to see that Minty was strapped in, he ran into the centre on the open field, using his orange magic to keep the kite aloft until the breeze was able to carry and lift it higher.

Tina started in horror as the kite rocketed to the sky, Minty’s screams twisting into something horrible in her mind. Quickly, she turned around.

“Sans, please tell me if that’s Minty screaming in pain or excitement.”

“He’s just excited.” When she didn’t turn around, he nudged her with the side of his skull, “I promise, that’s him laughing his little heart out. Listen.”

She tried, but to her, it sounded like he was wailing. Her breathing increased as she placed a hand to her racing heart.

“hey, why don’t we sit under this tree? keep an eye on things from a distance.” Sans asked her quietly.

“I-I’d like that.”

Sans made his way over to the tree with their picnic basket and bag of fun activity supplies, sliding down to its base with a heavy sigh as he made himself more comfortable.

Crossing his legs in front of him, he rested his intertwined hands in his lap as he lazily watched Papyrus running up and down the field, Minty’s cries of excitement and enjoyment carrying clearly across the field. After a while, Tina turned around and watched the pair herself, the longer she sat there, the less Minty sounded like he was screaming in pain.

“I’m going to climb higher.” She said, moving from one shoulder to the other to reach the side with the rougher tree bark.

“what to leave your backpack with me?” He offered, watching her go.

Tina held the strap of one of her backpacks protectively, “N-no, it should be fine.”

Sans shrugged and returned to watching Papyrus and Minty, leaving Tina to climb up the tree herself. It took a while, but eventually, she managed to clear the tree’s foliage, looking up and around the tree’s top to see the whole park. From here, she could look up and just see Minty, see him swinging his weight around to drive the direction of the kite. Alarming, she quickly realised that Minty’s aim was to drive the kite back to the ground, while Papyrus fought to keep it aloft. She almost called out for them to stop, to run out onto the filed herself and take direct action, but managed to real back the impulse.

She wasn’t the same bitty she was when she first moved in, and the time spent with Papyrus helped slow down her impulses long enough to recognise that he was in full control of the situation. Seeing him laughing and acting like Minty was winning  sort of reminded her of when she had seen adults playing with their children on the swings, how the adult would linger in front of the child’s swinging legs and act like they were about to get hit, only to dodge at the last minute, much to their laughing child’s delight. Seeing that then and this now, stirred old feelings without memory in her, and suddenly, she found she wanted to look at anything else.

The park was still as busy as it was when they had arrived in Papyrus’s fancy red car, with a high population of bitties enjoying the day with their adoptive monster families. It still amazed her seeing just how many monsters had bitties now…and how happy their bitties seemed.

“A lot of monsters out today.” She noted aloud, watching a pack of dog monster’s running around the park’s edges.

“not a lot of humans.” Sans hummed, sounding pleased, “should make today relatively drama free.”

“Is it just me, or are there more bitty adoptions nowadays?” she asked, coming down to rest on a tree branch above his head.

Sans shrugged, “paps and minty make for a great promotional material for other monsters. ever since those two found each other, bitty adoptions have certainly gone up.”

“I keep forgetting that Papyrus was ordered to adopt a bitty to help make the idea more…appealing to monsters.”

Sans looked up at her, “don’t get that twisted tina; paps was asked to adopt, sure, but he took the idea of doing so very seriously and would have never done so if no bitty had wanted to be adopted by him.” He gestured towards Papyrus and Minty, “does that seem like they’re just doing that for show?”

She didn’t bother to look up, choosing instead to fall lightly onto his shoulder, “I didn’t mean to imply that he didn’t care about Minty, personally. I-I guess I still find the idea of monster adoption…somewhat scary.”

“you and other humans.” Sans looked over at her, before plucking her gently from his shoulder and placing her on his knee, “you don’t fear monsters, do you?”

“Being my size and…what I’ve gone through, I find any number of things alarming.” She sat down, looking towards the field, “But I’ve met more than enough good monster’s to know that you should only ever judge people on a case by case bases.”

“sure wish humans would learn that.” Sans mumbled.

When she turned to look at him, he sighed, “things between the two races were tense when we came back, but they were getting better. then- then bitties showed up, and all that progress just disappeared.”

“I thought things were always tense between the two races?”

“well, considering bitties have lost all their memories, i'd be surprised if you did remember things being different once. once you guys turned up, all of monster kind got automatically blamed, and suddenly, monsters like paps are getting drafted in to help plump out the royal guard numbers to help dealing with all the incidents between the races.”

“You make it seem like Paps had a different job once.”

“he did.”

“What was it?”

Sans looked like he was about to answer, but instead, he smiled down at her, “why don’t you ask him yourself? i’m sure he’ll tell you his life story, if you give him the chance.”

Tina chuckled, “It does not take much to get Papyrus to talk about himself.”

“hee, hee. no, it does not, but that's because he truly is the great papyrus.”

The two shared a laugh, ending with a satisfied sigh and looking back out at Papyrus and Minty, still playing.

After a while, Sans asked, softly, “are you happy tina?”

She turned to look back, watching him watch her.

“…Yeah, I think so.”

“you think so?”

She shrugged, turning away, “It’s hard to say anything else. I-I used to have fantasies that I’d find something that would just magically fix everything. That one day, I’d get to experience everything normally, like everyone else does.”

“Things like not hearing screams when children are laughing.” She whispered quietly.

She felt Sans patting her shoulder, flinching at the initial touch, before willing herself to relax.

“you know you’ve been doing much better, right?” He asked her.

She shrugged again, “But it’s not perfect.” She waved her hand vaguely in the air, “I had the same thing happen to me back at Mama Cry’s; I’d make progress and I could tell I was feeling better, but it wasn’t…perfect. I…wasn’t perfect yet, and I started thinking that I was so broken that I could never be just normal ever again, that the best I could hope for was just numbness. Once I had that thought, it stuck, and I became just grateful for things like ‘Oh, no coughing up blood today’, or ‘no children flinched when I approached them.”

Sans’s hand was cupping her side now, his thumb rubbing her other shoulder.

“and now?” He asked, quietly.

She leaned into his touch, “Now I experience moments of…happiness. I smile because that’s what I feel like doing, and not because it’ll make everyone less afraid of me or for me.”

“i’ve noticed that you’ve become more active in the day to day life stuff.”

“Yeah, well, Minty had a point about participating more, so I thought I would.”

“despite forcing yourself to do that?”

She looked quickly back at him, seeing him smiling softly down at her, “don’t think i didn’t notice all the little hesitations and the self-interruptions you did when you changed your answer last second.”

She couldn’t deny it, but for someone who so used to not being analysed because she herself was devoid of emotions to analyse, she suddenly felt rather exposed and vulnerable.

“I-I didn’t think I was that obvious.”

He grinned, “i’m pretty good at picking up on the little things.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Was that a short joke at my expense?”

He laughed, “you have no idea how glad i am that i get to make jokes like that now. it’s been a while since i wasn’t the shortest monster in the room that didn’t have a child in it.”

“Try living in a room with nothing but children and tell me if you don’t feel freakishly tall and old because of it.”

They chuckled again, with Sans keeping his hand where it was as Tina rubbed his pointer finger, absentmindedly.

“You know what?” she said, looking back to grin at him, “I think I wouldn’t mind trying a bit of Bitty flying myself.”

“because you think that you should, seeing as we’re here?”

“Because it…looks like fun.”

Sans beamed, pulling his hand over to reach into the bag next to him, pulling out a spare kite.

“you could fly in one of your very own.” He pointed out to her, waggling his eyebrows in hopeful playfulness.

Tina gapped at him, “But why would you bring two?”

“let’s just say, i was hoping for today to be perfect.”

 

Next chapter is called: Beach Day


	17. In̛ky͟ ̵̨̨T͟ears̸̢- (Non-Cannon/ Halloween Fun)

**In̛ky͟ ̵̨̨T͟ears̸̢**

_In dimension c-137 (pre-Croneberg), a Undertale Fanfic writer by the pen name Rnd_Injustice discovers an internet ‘spell’ that relates to their relatively new interests. Laughing it off as just ‘something stupid but fun’, this writer went out and brought the ingredients required to complete the binding, following the instructions as listed[here](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/rnd-injustice/178640180283) in the month of October._

_The following chapter is a direct result of a successful binding. All attempts to remove or alter this chapter have been unsuccessful._

_(Warning, this contains non-cannon: Angst, blood/gore)_

An ink puddle appeared one day from out of nowhere.

Tina was the first one to notice it, always vigilant as she was to her surrounds. From her vantage point up in the sky, next to Minty as they both flew in kites, what she found strange was how far everyone else in the park was to her and the rest of her group.

_‘Where did that come from?’_

“Sans?” She called out.

“want to come down?” His voice called up to her, on the other line of the kite she was on.

“Yes please.”

She felt the kite pull towards him, heading for the ground. As she was lowered, she saw that she had been mistaken in thinking that they were completely alone; there was another skeleton approaching their group, coming from the ink puddle’s direction.

He had the same build as Sans, a brown scarf tied around his neck that flapped about in the afternoon breeze, with a giant paintbrush at his back. His face had ink stains splatters across it and his eyes alternated between different shapes and colours. There was a blue jacket tied around his waist (not unlike Sans’s) and he was wearing shorts with runners. A sash went around his body and it appeared to be decked out in art supplies.

Overall, he made for quite a bizarre and strange sight, even by monster standards.

“Greetings Tina! I assure you, I’m more bizarre than that!” he called out to her, beaming happily up at her.

 Sans wheeled around, causing the kite to go in one direction, out of control.

Close enough to the ground, Tina made a leap for it, only to be suspended in an orange glow.

“DON’T JUMP!” Papyrus scolded, his eyes flaring orange as she felt herself brought closer to him, “THAT’S HOW ACCIDENTS HAPPEN!”

“how do you know her?” Sans asked the strange skeleton.

The strange skeleton laughed, “Oh, I don’t know. How about because I’m typing everything right now through this story’s Creator?”

Sans, if it was even possible for a skeleton, paled.

“Wait! Before you teleport, I want to introduce myself to everyone else.”

The strange skeleton walked past a Sans who wasn’t moving, to walk towards Papyrus, hand out.

“Ah, Classic Paps! How nice it always is to meet you!”

Papyrus beamed, finish placing Tina on his shoulder while Minty was still up in the air, “HELLO INK-STAINED SKELETON! HOW NICE IT IS TO MEET A FELLOW MONSTER WHO RECOGNISES THAT I AM A CLASSIC!”

The strange skeleton laughed, throwing his head back, “Never change!” Reeling himself back in, he placed a hand to his chest, “You can call me Ink! And this,” he patted the paintbrush at his back, “this is Broomy!”

“You name your paint brushes?” Tina asked, looking back to see that Sans still hadn’t moved one inch.

Ink looked behind him, back at Sans, before turning to face her, “Oh, don’t worry about Mister Worrywart. He’s fine. I just wanted the chance to say hi before things get too crazy.”

“MY BROTHER IS A WORRYWART,” Papyrus agreed, “BUT THAT’S NO REASON TO USE YOUR MAGIC AGAINST HIM.”

Ink looked surprised, “You can sense that?”

Papyrus shrugged, “I HAVE NEVER KNOWN MY BROTHER TO STAND LIKE THAT FOR ANY LONG PERIODS OF TIME.”

Ink grinned, “And Creators keep making you far dumber than you really are.”

Sans suddenly staggered, before spinning around, looking at them all. In a flash, he disappeared from where he stood and was standing by Papyrus side, grabbing his hand.

In the next instance, Sans disappeared and a fluffy, blue squat cat sat at Papyrus’s boots.

“SAN-SANS??” Papyrus exclaimed, crouching down low to examine the cat.

The cat immediately started making complaintive cat noises, switching from hissing and wiping towards Ink’s direction, and nudging and pushing Papyrus’s boots in the other direction.

Papyrus turned back to Ink, frowning now, “TURN MY BROTHER BACK!”

Ink held up his hands, “In (relatively) a few moments, but you should know that it wasn’t entirely my fault; a lot of Readers wanted Sans as a cat!”

“READERS??” Papyrus asked, baffled.

Ink nodded, before pointing up, “Maybe you should pull Minty back in?”

Papyrus glared at Ink, his eyes narrowing in suspicion, before he did as was suggested, reeling Minty back.

“Papy, what’s wrong?” Minty called as he saw what was happening below him and felt the tension in the air.

“WE’VE MET A STRANGE SKELETON WHO SAYS AND DOES STRANGE THINGS.” Papyrus said, done reeling in Minty’s kite and placing the boy on his other shoulder, “I-I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING ANYMORE!”

“Where’s Sans?” Minty asked, sound scared as Tina finished making her way over to him and wrapping both arms around him.

Ink’s expression fell, “Don’t be scarred kid. Sans is right there!” He pointed to the blue cat that was still trying to get Papyrus to move.

Minty took one look at the blue cat, before looking around, “This is a joke, right?”

“Afraid not,” Ink explained, choosing to sit down, “But I’m willing to explain if you’ll let me.”

“WILL YOU TURN MY BROTHER BACK INTO A SKELETON?” Papyrus asked, sitting crossed legged as ‘Sans’ jumped into his lap.

Ink rubbed his chin, thoughtfully, “….Okay, but no attacking or teleporting away. It won't’ work, trust me.”

Sans popped back into existence, right in Papyrus’s lap.

“trust you??” He exclaimed, quickly moving off to sit crouch on the ground, “why should we trust you??”

“Oh you shouldn’t.” Ink grinned, “But you should at least hear what I have to say before we get too far into this chapter.”

Sans seemed torn between standing and sitting, looking from Ink’s grin to everyone else watching him. Eventually, he sighed deeply and settled down, sprawling out on the grass.

“okay buddy,” he waved a hand towards him, “tell us your story.”

Ink laughed, “Ha! Like I’d waste my precious time talking about me when I’m here for you!”

“Us?” Minty asked, curiously.

Ink beamed, “While the least popular story this Creator has, you guys were responsible for so many of the ideas that helped shape the others! You’re like the original idea; the story the tests this Creator every time they open up this document!”

“COME AGAIN?” Papyrus asked, scratching his skull.

Ink continued on happily, like a fan talking about their fandom, “A good old angst-fest with so many twists and turns to come (some of which have already happened but even the Readers don’t know yet!)! So much tragedy and heart in this little story! You guys, and this story, are basically the people who kept going on, despite the odds!”

“okay, what are you talking about?” Sans asked, his grin slipping, “and try to keep the crazy to a level we can follow you on.”

Ink reached in and pulled out his phone, scrolling through his messages, “Basically, I’m an interdimensional traveller, travelling between worlds. This world’s Creator summoned me here and now I get to be here for twenty-four Reader hours. When I go, everything that happened goes with me and it’ll be like none of this ever happened! Right now, I’m talking directly with the Readers, and I’m getting a few ideas from them with what I can do with you guys.”

“Do-do we get a say?” Minty asked, nervously.

Ink shrugged, texting on his phone, “Sure, if you’ve got a few ideas. But then, nothing I do matters, so I guess it all balances out, right?”

“wrong.” Sans said, his eyelights gone, “even if no one remembers it, it still happened.”

“This isn’t a time reset Sans; none of you’ll have any memories of this ever happening. Not even the concept of time passing will have happened.”

“you can’t guarantee that!”

Ink looked up from his phone, “Sure I can. I’m not some child with a power I’ve never used before; I’m an all-power creature whos managed to hijack your world’s Creator. For example, I can do this.”

With a snap of his fingers, Sans turned back into the blue cat while Papyrus turned into an orange, grey-hound dog wearing a red scarf. Tina and Minty fell to the ground, rolling across the grass due to the sudden change.

“There. Something fluffy for once.” He snickered, “Literally.”

“Pap-Papyrus??” Minty cried out, looking up into the dog’s eyes.

‘Pappy’ barked, pushing his face towards them both before licking them, barking excitedly as his dog tail wagged as hard as it could. ‘Sansy’, meanwhile, came from behind them, curling around the two bitties protectively while he glared at Ink.

Ink laughed, “Don’t worry about me Sansy old boy, I’ll leave you guys alone in just a second. Just going to sit here and respond to a few messages.” He pulled out his phone, dismissing them with his hand, “Go, go! Have fun.”

When it became apparent that he was done talking to them, Tina looked from Minty in her arms to the skeleton brother turned into pets.

“What’s happening Tina?” Minty asked, quietly.

“I-I don’t know.”

Honestly, the answer to that wasn’t as important as what happens now? If this had happened weeks ago, when she first been adopted, she probably would have taken Minty and left the brothers to fend for themselves. Her first priority would have been to look after Minty and keep him safe before she would have entertained the idea of coming back to help.

Now, however, with how easily this guy had used magic against their protectors, she doubted she would stand a chance if she tried to make a run for it. Now, she found herself wanting to protect both brothers….if she could. She briefly considered mounting up either Pappy or Sansy and guiding them to make a run for it, but that plan spoke more on her desperation than any likeability to work.

While she thought, Minty turned his attention to Sansy, scratching his underbelly pressed to their back. A deep rumble came from the cat’s chest and Sansy rolled over a bit to expose more of his underbelly to Mity’s hands.

He laughed gleefully, “I think he likes this!”

Tina smiled, despite herself, looking over to Sansy’s face and seeing the cat’s eyes close, a playful smile on his new feline face.

“BARK!”

Pappy, not to be ignored, nudged Minty’s back, before making pitiful pinning noises as he lowered himself flat to the ground, looking up at them with sad eyes.

“Aww, don’t be sad, Papyrus.” Minty cooed, moving to pat the dog’s nose.

“Pappy.” Tina said, smiling.

Minty turned to her, “Pappy?” His eyes lit up as it clicked in his brain, quickly turning back to eagerly rub the dog’s nose, “Pappy! Who’s a good puppy, Pappy?”

Pappy barked happily, licking Minty’s front before jumping back, excitedly jumping side to side with his wagging tail held high.

Minty was laughing, beaming up at the playful dog, “I think he wants to play!”

Tina smiled too, despite her worries, “It certainly looks that way.”

“Can I go play with him!?” Minty turned to giver her his puppy eyes, his bottom lip wobbling, “Oh please, Tina!”

She hesitated, looking over to Ink and any indication on what he might do.

Like he could sense her looking at him, he looked up from his texting to wink at her, “Don’t worry about me. You do whatever you feel like doing.”

She didn’t want to respond and she certainly didn’t trust him, but she felt compelled to ask, “What if I feel like escaping? Are you going to allow that?”

Ink laughed, looking back to his phone, “As if anything I’m going to say will change what you’re going to do.”

He had a point there, and the fact that he acknowledged it made her feel strangely more relaxed with the whole situation. Being helpless and having no control or say over what happened to her was something she was used to. It was adapting to the idea of having agency over her own life she found more unsettling, more unnatural.

At least he was being honest with how little control she had.

Deciding that there was no point with trying to escape and wanting to have more information on this Ink character and by what extent he had changed Sans and Papyrus, Tina looked back at Minty and nodded.

“Yes!” cheered the boy, jumping into the air with a fist pump.

No sooner had he landed than he turned around and called, “Pappy! Come here!”

Pappy bounded over, quickly laying flat on the ground and looking hopeful on getting more nose scratches. Rather than do that, Minty climbed up to his neck, using the scarf as a sort of reigns.

“Run Pappy, run!”

In a flash, Pappy pushed himself from the ground and tore around the field, running as fast as his long legs would take him, Minty’s laughing in delight from his back.

Tin watched from the grass, struggling to see the two with how low to the ground she was. From what she could see, she began to worry that Pappy was running too fast. That if Minty fell at that speed, he’d really hurt himself.

Sansy interrupted her fretting by coming over and wrapping both paws around her body, pulling her under his chin as he sat down, nearly smothering her with all his fluff. Pushing fur out of the way, she struggled to find a way out, only for Sans to move and push her deeper, a deep purring vibrating her back.

“Sans!” she complained playfully.

All that managed to do was make Sansy settle down more, laying his head flat on the ground with her face just bearly poking out. Seeing no point in struggling, she allowed herself to be comforted, using one of his paws as a fluffy pillow as she listened to Minty’s laughter, Pappy’s barking and Sansy’s purring.

After a while, she began to idly scratch the side of his neck, startled when Sans began to rub his face all over her as his purr increasing.

“Guess you like this, huh?” She smiled, using both hands.

In response, Sans exposed more of his neck, allowing her to sit up and scratch even more, eventually driving him to roll onto his back was Tina climbed onto his belly, scratching what she could. When she was sitting on his belly, his front paws came up and hugged her, keeping her pressed to his purring chest.

“Oh no, you’ve caught me.” She laughed, laying flat where she was and not bothering to get up.

“You two have managed to bound quite well, despite knowing so little about each other.”

Sansy’s purring stopped and Tina looked up to see Ink looking at them thoughtfully as he put away his phone.

She looked away, snuggling deeper into the fur, “It’s better this way.”

“I’m going to disagree, and judging by what your Creator has planned for you two, I think they do too.”

“Yeah?” Tina pushed aside Sansy’s paws, sitting up to glare at Ink, “Well, you can tell the Creator to go to hell. Or better yet, tell them they can experience what I did, assuming that they’re responsible for putting me through that in the first place.”

Ink didn’t answer, watching her face carefully. After a while, he shrugged, “It’s the nature of angst stories, I’m afraid. Can’t have it without pain and suffering to the characters.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m a god damn character in a story! My pain and suffering should not entertain others!”

“But it did….once.” Ink leaned in to see Tina paling, “I mean, what else were the Bitty Fights if nor entertainment for others, right?”

Sansy rolled over and picked Tina from the ground in his mouth, before heading towards the tree, away from Ink.

“Oh come on guys!” Ink called out, following them, “I don’t make the rules here! Angst stories are just as important and entertaining as any other genre….it’s just an unfortunate reality that, if you look at, what you’re actually creating are characters to torture, right?”

Sansy began to climb the tree, easily scaling it as he reached one of the highest branches, before placing Tina gently before him. Finding her balance on the tree branch, she turned around and patted his soft face, smiling gratefully.

“Thank you, Sans.”

He seemed to smile, purring lightly.

“The way I see it,” Ink called out, somewhere below them, “every time you two experience something horrible, you two get closer! So, how about you bound over your horrible pasts! I can show you them to each other, first hand!”

“Don’t!” Tina cried out, before coughing as her throat flared in pain.

But Ink wasn’t listening as he turned to Papyrus and Minty, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you two! You’ve both got pretty dark pasts, and I’m curious to see how experiencing them as a family will help you guys grow closer.”

In the next moment, Tina and Sans were standing next to Papyrus and Minty, all of them returned to their regular sizes and shapes, floating in the void.

“It’s not the true ‘void’,” Ink’s voice came from around them, “it’s just a blank page I’m using to set up each of your worst memories.”

“you have no right to delve into our memories.” Sans growled, one of his eye lights blazing in magic as he looked wildly around.

“PLEASE!” pleased Papyrus, “MINTY SHOULD NOT BE HERE TO SEE ANY OF THIS!”

“It’ll be fine,” Ink replied, sounding distracted, “I’m not getting too many responses to this story, but I am getting mainly requests for more angst, and you guys have that in spades! Besides, you won’t remember any of this, so no harm, no foul, right?”

“You can’t play god like this!” Tina called out, fearing the dark as she had never before.

Ink chuckled, “I’m not playing god, I’m playing flashbacks like in a T.V series. Listen.”

The [sound of a harp played](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QGWgyss9wE) and suddenly the blackness around them rippled, twisting and changing as new shapes, colours and sounds come from the darkness.

Knowing that it could be any one of their memories, they gathered around each other, both fearful for each other and for themselves.

It soon became clear that there was a problem with this memory; it was all disjointed and blurred, with none of the senses intact. Sounds, smells, touch and even taste shuffled and jumped about, diminishing and exploding in unpredictable, erratic and in very disjointed ways that made making anything out an ordeal in of itself.

Tina, however and at long last, recognised it as the dark basement from her past.

“No!” She gasped.

Sans held her unresponsive hand as Papyrus moved to comfort Minty, who shivered despite not be able to feel the basement’s cold.

“what is it tina?? what’s wrong?”

“WHAT’S GOING ON SANS??” Papyrus asked, alarmed as he struggled to see or make anything out.

“i-i think this is tina’s memory. from-from before she was rescued.”

“WHAT??”

“Ten!”

A loud, thunderous voice boomed around them, impossibly loud, impossible menacing; it was like hearing the voice of a vengeful god. Something all powerful, all present, and completely without mercy.

“Take it back!” it shouted at them.

Tina began to shake violently as both of her hands flew up to her mouth.

Still, her voice called out, definite and beyond her control to alter, “Never! You’re nothing but a sick killer! I hope you fucking die screaming, only to wake up and burn forever in a lake of fire!!”

The room got darker as Tina’s tremors increased, staring somewhere high above her.

The others pressed against her, each trying to comfort her with their words and touch, but nothing was reaching her. Nothing could reach her.

Not when a large, long, thin-fingered hand came out from the darkness high above them all. The hand aimed for her, and her alone, passing through all the others and wholly ignorant of their attempts to keep her with them, lifting her up and away.

“Please don’t do it!” She screamed as her voice from her past cried, “Let me go!”

“Shut up!” The voice of her only Owner snapped.

“Never!” the voice of her past yelled out in defiance, in spite of her efforts to remain silent.

“Then I’ll shut you up! Forever!”

In a rush of wind and movement, Tina was shoved back into the ground, head first, in between the skeleton brothers and Minty. She felt the stinging blow of her head hitting the table hard, but quickly forgot it when she felt her head dragged back painfully, exposing her neck.

Tina lost all composure, her eye wildly searching for escape that was impossible as she took ragged breaths on the edge of hysteria. United as one with her past self, they both listened in as their Owner dug around in a draw, the sound of metal clanging.

Only where her past self had no idea what was about to happen and nothing to distract her from her fear and panic, Tina had Sans’s face appear in front of her, his hands holding her face flat to his as he spoke to her from the ground in front of her.

“tina! look at me tina! focus on me! block it out!”

She tried to, but between her and her pasts self ragged breathing as they panicked in a grasp that they couldn’t break and Papyrus consolidating a distraught Minty in the background, she found little to distract her from her hellish memories come to life. There was nothing she could do! She was going to experience her throat being cut open wide again, the feel on her neck bending too far back, and further back still when that blade-!

A slapping pain across her cheek startled her out of her downward spiral, bringing her back to Sans, back to him and the present.

He was shaking her now, trying to wriggle her out as he pushed through the hand that had no physical matter to him.

“snap out of it tina! you’re stronger than this! you’ve beaten this already!”

Tears were streaming down his face, at a contrast to the furry his voice quavered in as he spat out each line through gritted teeth. Through a combination of all his effort, Tina felt her body slip and fall to the ground, passing through the hand of her past. The moment she was cleared, Sans picked her up and held her tightly to him, his body quivering as he pulled her away. She clung to him, breathing heavily as she heard the sound of a draw getting closed, shuddering the entire desk they stood upon.

“What are you doing?!?” Her past called out, while her future self already knew what was coming.

Sans held her tighter to him, burying her face into the side of his neck as he repeated in an endless loop, “focus on me, tina. listen to my voice; you’re okay. this isn’t real.”

It wasn’t enough to block out the gruesome sounds of her past self’s gasp of surprise quickly getting drowned out by the blood that poured down her windpipe, or the grisly sounds of her throat’s flesh ripping open as her Owner forced her head back further, tearing the flesh open-

“Okay! Okay! I think that’s enough teaser for today.”

The world returned to black, as it had before, but none of them the same as they had once been.

Tina reminded in Sans arms, where soon Minty and Papyrus joined her, wrapping their loving and supporting arms around her, giving her strength.

Ink, meanwhile, came back into existence, standing some distance away from the group.

“Esh, I mean, I knew that this story got dark, but that was nothing like what we’ve seen so far. But enough of that, I’m interested in stuff that only I can show. Not stuff we’ll get to later on.”

A bone spang out of the ground in a flash, its point aimed right for Ink’s chest. But when it hit him, the point shattered on contact and the bone quickly disappeared in a cloud of magic dust.

Ink folded his arms, unimpressed. “Really Sans? Is every version of you going to attack me?”

“can’t say you don’t deserve it, right pal?” Sans said, his usual lazy grin tight as his sockets remained vacant.

Ink sighed, “Pain helps us grow. I’m not saying that everyone needs to have the kind of backstory you guys have, but if done right, characters like you-“

“YOU HAD NO RIGHT MAKING TINA LIVE THAT AGAIN!” Papyrus cried out, turning around from the group hug to yell at Ink.

“’Right’ is an interesting word.” He gestured to them huddled around a still quavering Tina, “Look at how much closer you’ve become! And with just one memory!”

“We were already close!” Minty cried, burying in his sobbing face in the crook of her neck, “I-I never want to see something so horrible again!”

“Then perhaps you should close your eyes, because it’s time for the old classic of Undertale angst.”

The blackness shimmered once again, showing clearly a long, golden hall with grand pillars and stained-glass windows. The group huddled in the middle of this hall, that was empty except a lone figure standing towards the end, wearing a familiar blue jacket.

“S-SANS?” Papyrus asked, softly, “IS-IS THIS YOUR MEMORY.”

“…yeah.”

The sound of shoes walking slowly from the other direction pulled everyone’s attention to it, to the sight of a familiar girl, covered in dust.

“Frisk?” Minty said, surprised, “Why-why is Frisk part of your worst memory Sans?”

Sans didn’t answer.

They watched as Frisk approached the unmoving Sans, stopping at a certain point in the golden hall.

“so,” said the Sans that was a part of the memory, “how many times does this make?”

Frisk didn’t respond, keeping their head bowed and hands by their side.

He sighed deeply, “how long are you planning to do this kid?”

No response.

“….whelp, i guess we better get to it then.”

His hand enflamed in blue magic, the Sans from memory reached out and grabbed Frisk, her whole body outlined in a blue glow of his magic as she was forced to the ground. With obvious effort, she managed to push herself up long enough to roll out of the way as bone sprung out of the ground, nearly skewering her. Before she had a chance to recover, the blue glow left her body and more bones sprang out of every surface, trying to impale her. Frisk, as if they knew where the bones would go, dodge most of them, ignoring the few that tore ups her jumper and left her body stained in her own blood. Suddenly, she was surrounded by several dog-looking skulls that appeared from thin air,  opening their jaws as one, before firing off laser beams with intense heat. Again, Friks managed to dodge the beams like she knew where to stand, but not effortlessly. Still a child in a physical body, the group could see the effort it had taken her to dodge as much as she had, breathing heavily.

The Sans from memory was sweating too, and during the lull of his attacks, Frisk ran towards him, a dusty kitchen knife glinting from the red glow in her smiling eyes.

While the two fought each other, each trying their hardest to kill the other, the group remained huddled where they had appeared, watching the two and all their attacks pass right through them, harmlessly.

“SANS?” Papyrus asked softly, patting his brother’s back.

Sans was holding onto Tina as tightly as he had when her Owner had cut her throat, but she knew it was less for her sake. Now it was her turn to hug him as tight as she could, feeling the tremors running through her body that were also coming from him now.

“BROTHER?” Papyrus said, even more softly.

Sans took a long, shuddering breath, “….i never wanted to see this place again.”

“IT LOOKS LIKE THE HALL BEFORE THE THRONE ROOM.” Papyrus said, looking around and past all the damage of the epic battle of wills.

Sans nodded, “This is the only place i can ever confront the kid after i inject myself with all the leftover determination in alphys’s lab.”

Papyrus gasped, “BUT DOING THAT WOULD-!“

“kill me?” Sans chuckled humourlessly, “yeah, it would, if time lasted long enough for me to actually die.”

“BUT WHY SANS?”

Sans didn’t immediately respond. “……….how else was i going to bring you back?” He whispered, hugging Tina tightly.

“I don’t understand.” Minty whispered, scared by so much violence around him.

Sans’s arms dropped from Tina’s back, and she eased herself back to look him in the eyes, searching his expression. Searching her’s right back, Sans eventually looked away and towards the two slowly killing each other.

“there’s a longer, sadder story to this, but basically, the kid’s got this soul fragment leaching from hers. from what the kid’s told me and what i’ve seen, this fragment is less an actual person and more human survival instincts hyped up on determination. problem is, with all the magic that’s was trapped underground, when you add a human soul fragment with that much determination, plus all the magic and survival instincts kicked into hyperdrive, you get a kid with the ability to reset time.” he gestured towards the fighting, “that’s why she’s dodging all my attacks; we’ve fought like this many times to the point she knows exactly how i attack when she does something. a sick, yet perfect example of trial and error.”

“But I don’t understand why you’re attacking each other in the first place?” Minty moved closer to Papyrus, now scared of Sans, “What did she do?”

Sans’s expression darkened, “she kills everyone she can in the entire underground.”

He refused to look at Papyrus, who also looked quickly away.

“Wh-why?” Minty’s voice wobbled.

Sans fists clenched at his side, “because apparently, monsters’ threating violence aggravates it, but when the kid kills, the more she kills, the more she loses control until she’s like that.”

He gestured towards Frisk, who everyone could see a bone had managed to launch itself into her shoulder, bleed profusely. Yet, despite this, Frisk continued to slash at a dodging Sans, making no noise of complaint or even acknowledgment that she had been wounded.

Nothing but a wide smile below red glowing eyes.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU’D INJECT YOURSELF WITH THAT MUCH DETERMINATION SANS.” Papyrus was looking at the Sans fighting, seeing him sweating and breathing heavily, “YOU’RE STARTING TO MELT. YOU-YOU MUST HAVE KNOWN THAT YOU WOULD DIE.”

Sans moved his hands over to hers, seeking comfort, which she gave willingly. Once he was holding her hand, he seemed to find strength enough to answer Papyrus, “…..none-none of us were powerful enough to stop her paps. not without using the other human souls. i-i thought that if i had more determination than her, i-i could wrangle the control of time away from the kid and keep her from resetting it, putting everything back as it was before.”

His head dropped, “besides, i had nothing left to lose. she-she took everything that mattered to me.”

There was a moment of silence from the group as the fighting around them seemed to come towards its end.

“How many times has she reset?” Tina asked, rubbing his hand comfortingly.

The hand holding hers tightened.

“i-i lost count after a hundred.”

The Sans from memory seemed to have struck a killing blow as Frisk hung from a pillar, implied to it as blood flowed from multiple stab wounds surround innumerable burn wounds. This Sans was sweating even more now as he limped towards the pillar, hatred and sorrow twisting his expression.

“why did you reset??” He yelled up at the dying child, “papyrus was happy! i was happy! you were happy! everyone was happy and free!! why frisk, why?!?”

The red ebbed slowly out of her eyes, and Frisk spoke, struggling to breathe through punctured lungs.

“I…..was……bored….. I’m….so-sor…..San…….”

The eyes dimmed and her body ceased breathing as Sans fell to his knees, just staring at the corpse.

Before anything could be done, everyone experienced a sort of déjà vu feeling, and all the damage to the hall was restored, removing all traces of blood and bone from it. Sans, once again, stood at the end of the hall, the lifeless, hopelessness mirroring of the Sans next to her.

Frisk came walking in once more, a wide smile below red eyes. Her footsteps echoed around the hall as she approached Sans, coming to stand where she had before.

Only this time, the Sans at the end of the hall, dropped to his knees.

Slumped over, he looked to the ground, “go on kid. if killing me entertains you, then go ahead. i’m done playing.”

“Isn’t that breaking character, Creator?”

Ink stood next to the group, frowning as he watched Frisk watching Sans, “I mean, Sans doesn’t give up in the game. Not even if you kill him and reset it right afterwards. Maybe this is one of those, ‘I’ve played the ENTIRE game a hundred times’ kind of thing?”

Sans stood up and came towards him, “satisfied yet? they’ve seen my worst memory, the point where i gave up all hope completely. think we’re any closer now?”

Ink’s eyes flickered down to his and Tina’s entwined hands, before looking back up to meet his eyes with a smile.

“Definitely.”

“ENOUGH.”

Papyrus came walking forward, Minty hugging him in his arms, “YOU’VE SHOWN BOTH TINA AND MY BROTHER'S WORST MEMORIES. ISN’T THAT ENOUGH?”

Ink shook his head, “There’s still you and Minty to go.”

Minty peered over at him, wiping his eyes, “I don’t have any horrible memories. I-I guess I didn’t like saying goodbye to Tina and the times Papy was sad, but no-nothing as horrible as-“

He couldn’t finish his sentence as tears welled up in his eyes. On cue, the room returned to darkness as Sans’s memory simply stopped.

Ink looked at Minty, thoughtfully, “You’d be surprised what I can do. You losing your memories and the whole world forgetting doesn’t mean you don’t have a back story. It’s that backstory I have access to.”

Before Minty could respond, Papyrus was turning his body away from Ink, hiding the boy from sight.

“IF YOU HAVE TO SHOW SOMEONE’S HORRIBLE MEMORY AND PUT IT ON DISPLAY FOR EVERYONE TO SEE, THEN IT SHOULD BE ME.”

Ink beamed, rubbing his hands, “Oh, it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these!”

The blackness melted into snowy whiteness covered in fog. Off to the side ran an icy river, a path running along it as pine trees surrounded everything else. The fog was so thick that Tina had trouble seeing much beyond it, but judging by the tense posture that Papyrus had, she knew that he knew exactly where they were.

Sans looked just as sick as Papyrus, bring Tina along as he walked closer to his brother, placing a hand to his shoulder.

“bro?” Sans asked, softly.

Papyrus looked to him, his eyes wide with fear. Struggling to speak, he eventually shook his head and pointed towards a direction at one end of the path.

A figure was pacing in the fog, a tall dark shadow. As they approached it, the shadow became clear and took the form of Papyrus, breathing heavily as he paced.

He was muttering to himself, his words spoken so softly, so quickly, that none of them knew what they were. But their tone, his posture and his expression were clear; whatever he was saying, Papyrus was terrified.

This Papyrus took out his phone, holding onto it tightly as he stared down at the screen. Several times, he made to type something in, stopping each time with his finger poised, before finally tossing his phone into the icy river, watching it float away.

“why did you do that papyrus?” Sans asked sadly, turning around to see Papyrus slowly approaching them, “i-i tried calling you so many times this day.”

“WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE SAID SANS? THAT IS WAS DANGEROUS AND IT WASN’T GOING TO WORK? THAT IT WASN’T MY RESPONSIBILITY, THAT WE SHOULD LOOK AFTER YOURSELF AS BEST AS WE CAN? I-I KNEW YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE IT WOULD EVER WORK SANS, BUT I-I HAD TO TRY TO CHANGE HER MIND. SOMEONE HAD TO. EVEN IF IT WAS HOPELESS.”

Sans stared at him for a moment, before chuckled bitterly as he wiped the corner of his eyes, “so, you remember after all?”

“I-I DON’T REMEMBER AS CLEARLY AS ALL OF THIS.” Papyrus held Minty tighter to him, shaking, “BUT IT’S ALWAYS THE SAME….DREAM.”

The memory Papyrus stiffed and looked quickly back down the path. Papyrus and Sans looked also, and taking their cue from them, Minty and Tina looked as well.

There, coming out of the fog, was Frisk, a slight red tinge in her eyes and already covered in dust.

As one, the Papyrus of his own memories and the Papyrus who lived this nightmare every night, stepped forward.

“H-HALT, HUMAN!” The Papyruses cried out, both their voices quavering slightly.

Frisk kept walking forward, their pace slow.

The memory Papyrus continued his speech while the one who remembered him watched on, mouthing his words, “H-HEY! QUIT MOVING WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!”

Frisk continued to keep walking, but the Papyrus memory stood his ground, calling out to the dusty child. “I-I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY!”

He listed each point of his fingers, “FIRST, YOU’RE A FREAKING WEIRDO! NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES, BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE, THE WAYS YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER. IT FEELS LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH.”

He took a deep breath before posing, forcing the trembling out of his form through pure will alone, “HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU! EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY JUST TRY! AND ME! I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL!!! NYEH HEH HEH, HEH HEH HEH!!!”

Frisk was much closer now, the twinge of a smile playing on their lips.

“H-HEY, QUITE MOVING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! HUMAN! I THINK YOU’RE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE! SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! BUT, WORRY NOT! I, PAPYRUS…WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!!!”

Frisk kept walking, and soon, Papyrus and Frisk were mere meters from each other.

“I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING? A-ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE?” He laughed nervously, “WOWIE, MY LESSONS ARE ALREADY WORKING! I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!”

He knelt in the snow, his arms outstretched in a welcoming hug towards Frisk. What could be seen, by everyone, was how his arms shook unsteadily, orange tears spilling silently down his cheeks.

No one said anything as Frisk killed him with just one punch, destroying his body and leaving only his skull twisting in pain. As they watched, pieces broke off it and crumbled into dust to join the bigger pile under him as he lay dying in the snow, his red scarf trapped under him.

Through some torturous miracle, the head of this Papyrus kept talking as everyone gathered around to hear his final words, “WE-WELL, THAT’S NOT ….WHAT I EXPECTED. BUT, ST……STILL I…..I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER, EVEN ……IF YOU DON’T THINK SO!!” His final tears trickled down his cheekbones, joining the dust below, “I…..I PROMISE.”

Papyrus’s skull caved in on itself and the memory faded to black, with Frisk stepping over the pile, moving onto the next section.

“I REMEMBER DYING…EVEN BACK THEN.” Papyrus looked up from the spot his head had been as darkness once again surrounded them, “AS-AS I SPOKE THOSE WORDS, I-I COULD FEEL HOW I HAD ALREADY SAID THEM SO MANY TIMES ALREADY…..KNOWING THAT THEY WOULDN’T CHANGE HER MIND.”

Tina hugged him, feeling one of his arms wrap around her in kind as Minty sobbed into his shirt.

“then why did you?” Sans asked, coming closer to ask the question he didn’t ever want to ask....but had to know.

“...BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD TO TRY.”

Sans hugged his brother tightly, and together as a family, they cried silently at the shared pain they felt for each other and themselves.

Ink allowed them a moment before coughing, breaking up the group.

“My time’s almost done (it’s almost like I planned this, wink, wink), so I do believe that it’s Minty’s turn.”

Sans and Tina stood in front of Minty while Papyrus turned to keep him away from Ink’s grin.

“no.” Sans said flatly.

Ink scoffed, “Pfft, like I need permission. Besides, this is the only way you’re going to see Minty’s memories! Find out who his parents are, or where he lived, or what kind of boy he was! Isn’t that exciting?”

“Parents?” Minty sat up a little straighter in Papyrus’s arms, “As in a mum and dad?”

Ink nodded, “You’ve got a school, name, everything! You use to be a regular kid before turning into a bitty.”

“kid, don’t listen to him. he’s conveniently leaving out the part about it being your worst memory.” Sans turned around to hold Minty’s hand, “it could be something really horrible. you’re probably better not knowing it.”

“But what if we use it to figure out who my mum and dad were?” Minty pressed on, “What if it shows where I use to live, and I can go and visit them?”

“Besides,” Ink grinned, “I’ve already hit the ‘play’ button.”

Sure enough, the blackness was changing into a lower/ middle-economic housing area, with Minty coming out of his house beside a woman who could only be his mother, wearing a school uniform. He shared similar features with his mother, but where Minty was bright and happy, his mother looked strained and tired.

Still, she happily smiled as Minty walked by her side, the two of them heading off down the street.

“Got your lunch?” his mother asked, swinging his arm around playfully.

Minty nodded, patting his bag, “Right here!”

His mother smiled and the two continued walking on in silence, playing their swinging game. The group watched on, including a Minty who was drinking in every detail of his mother’s face, and walked behind them in apprehension, knowing something bad was bound to happen.

 _‘I hope, whatever it is, Minty wasn’t there to see it.’_ Tina thought, knowing that was all she could hope for.

Minty’s mother seemed kind of distracted; she barely acknowledged coming to a stop by the bus stop.

But that didn’t stop Minty talking to her as if she was hanging on to his every word.

“-I sure hope I get an A on my Maths test! I’ve been practising my multiplication all week! Wanna hear Mum?”

Minty stopped to look quickly up at his mother, seeing her looking elsewhere, lost in her own thoughts.

Shaking her hand, Minty huffed angrily, “Muuum!”

“Hum?” She quickly shook her head and returned her attention to Minty, “Sorry, what were you saying?”

Minty let go of her hand and folded his arms, “You weren’t listening! Again!”

“I’m sorry. Mummy hasn’t been sleeping very well for a while now, you know this.”

“Then you should be taking your medication the doctor gave you! He said you shouldn’t ignore him, like you keep ignoring me!”

There was a tense moment of silence.

“I-I came and walked you to the bus stop this morning, like I promised, didn’t I?” His mother said, in a very low voice.

Minty sighed, before throwing his arms around her, “Yes, but I wish you paid more attention to me!”

Minty’s mother patted his back as tears slipped silently down her cheeks and into his hair, “I-I know dear. Bu-but work’s been tough, and I can’t seem to fall asleep. If-if your father-“

The school bus pulled in then, and Minty quickly pushed away from his mother. Pulling her shirt down so that it forced his mother to bend her face towards him, Minty quickly peeked his mother on her cheek, before bounding onto the bus.

“I love you Mum!” He said, leaning out of the window to wave goodbye.

“Sit down!” Snapped the bus driver, closing the doors and pulling back onto the street.

Minty did as he was told, but that didn’t stop him waving goodbye to his mother, moving to the back of the bus so he could keep waving until the bus rounded a corner and she disappeared from sight.

~*~

For the group witnessing Minty’s memories, they moved as if the world was just on a screen on every surface. They stayed with this memory of Minty, seeing what he saw without needed to take physical space or transport to do it. So it was that they watched as Minty sat with a group of friends, the group quickly picking up a previous discussion about pokemon.

It appeared to be just a regular school day.

The school itself wasn’t that remarkable. They continued to watch as Minty entered his classroom laughing with his friends, taking his seat and organise himself for the day.

“THIS DOESN’T LOOK TOO BAD.” Papyrus said, cautiously, “NOT-NOT TOO MANY BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN AT SCHOOL, RIGHT?”

Sans shrugged, but continued to look tense, “with a school name, we at least know the area the kid was in, so no matter how this ends, that’s something at least.”

“I wonder if my mum will recognise me?” Minty said, staring at his past self in disbelief, “I wonder if any of my friends will?”

Sans shook his head sadly, “sorry kid, but kids don’t have the best record when it comes to remembering things. only adults, with a lot of history but with sudden large gaps just appearing for no reason, could be convinced that they once knew someone who was bittified.”

Minty’s shoulders slumped, but he sat up, a little taller, “Nothing says I can’t try, right? Maybe I can make friends all over again, at the very least.”

Minty’s teacher began speaking then, and it soon became obvious she was a real crabapple; a grouchy teacher who clung to her old ways of teaching where students were silent and did nothing but writing notes off the board. The only time they were permitted to talk was when she had been taking the role, where they learned that Minty’s name was once Oliver. The entire class appeared used to how things were run, but the Minty, who was watching this, couldn’t stand the silence.

“This class is so boring!” He complained, having long dropped out of Papyrus's arms to explore every detail on the classroom ages ago, “Mama Cry’s class are way more interesting than this!”

“I MUST ADMIT, EVEN I AM FINDING THIS EDUCATION RATHER POOR.” Papyrus sighed, leaning against the wall as he sat on the floor.

Sans chuckled as he sat on the teacher’s desk, “it’s called ‘patience’. you know, one of the soul traits?”

Both Papyrus and Minty groaned out in boredom.

Still chuckling, Sans looked over to see Tina looking out the window, towards the field. Or rather, what she could make out. Since Oliver was spending all his time staring at his notebook, he had little recollection of the field outside. If memories were a true reflection of what was remembered, after all this time, then she was surprised with how well the details in the classroom were remembered.

 _‘He must have spent a lot of time in this room.’_ She thought, thinking it was sad that the same could not be said for the outside.

“tina?” Sans called out, “you doing okay?”

She sighed and turned around, leaning on the window sill, “Just looking forward to when this all ends.”

“you and me both.”

“I don’t suppose you know why Ink’s doing all of this?” She asked, gesturing to the room at large.

Sans shrugged, “honestly? between all the crazy stuff he says that’s made worse because he looks like me and i happen to believe in alternative universes and damn if i don’t believe he is actually me in a different form, i’m inclined to believe that he’s bored. or at least, finds us interesting enough to torture like this.”

“WHAT ABOUT THE PART HE SAID ABOUT NONE OF THIS HAPPENING? THAT WE’RE GOING TO FORGET ALL OF THIS?” Papyrus said, looking up.

Minty spun around to see Sans sigh deeply, giving his brother a meaningful look, “we weren't supposed to remember anything with all those resets, yet i know i remember enough to wish i didn’t.”

Papyrus nodded thoughtfully, before looking away.

After a while, as the old teacher droned one, Papyrus asked quietly, “WERE YOU EVER GOING TO TELL ME? ABOUT FRISK AND THE RESETS?”

“……were you?”

There was a long pause.

“…I GUESS NOT.” Papyrus turned back and smiled up at his brother, “BUT I’M GLAD THAT I KNOW NOW.”

Sans hopped of the teacher’s desk and came to sit next to his brother, sliding down the wall.

“yeah, me too. it-it feels nice, knowing i have someone to talk about all this stuff with, you know?”

Papyrus smiled weakly, “I DO.” Then he nodded in Tina’s direction.

Sans looked quickly over to her to see her turning away.

“tina?”

She hunched her shoulders, “I-I don’t know if I feel any better or worse, knowing that you know. I-I just….It’s not like- he-“

Sans was suddenly by her side, hugging her. Unsure what she was meant to do or feel, she settled for allowing Sans to rub her back, tucking her head under his chin.

“shh, you don’t have to try to put into words what you’re thinking or feeling.”

“….It’s strange to think that we all might forget all of this happening.”

Sans hummed, for a moment, before saying softly to her, “it’s so good to be able to hug you like this. i’ve wanted to for such a long time.”

She laughed awkwardly, “Hard to hug a bitty, right?”

He shook his head, “that’s not it at all. for me, all of this is out in the open, and while it wasn’t our choice, i feel like i’m much closer to everyone now. you’ve all seen me at my worst and you were all there for me.” he laughed tightly, “i might be able to sleep properly now…..knowing that i can be honest with what’s keeping me up.”

She hugged him tightly back, taking her cue from him and rubbing his back, feeling his spine through his jacket.

After a while, she whispered to him, blushing as she admitted, “I’m-I’m going to miss hugging you back like this.”

Sans hugged her tighter.

“Everyone’s packing up!” Minty called out, hanging around his past self eagerly.

Indeed Oliver was, along with the whole class, as they made their way outside for the first break.

Sans let her go, and together, they all followed Minty and Oliver outside.

The moment he was outside, Oliver burst into life, happily chatting with his friends. Minty clung to his past self, taking in every detail of what he said and how he acted, trying to copy it exactly. His group of friends found an empty bench to continue their talk, each opening up a well-packed lunch box as they talked and laughed.

“I seem really happy.” Minty said with something akin to longing.

“AREN’T YOU NOW?” Papyrus asked, staring sadly down at the boy.

Minty quickly turned around, looking up at him, “I am! I am! It’s just….this was my life once.” He turned around to watch Oliver again, “I-I use to have a normal life….one where I get to grow up and reach for things all on my own, be like every other child.” His posture slumped, “Is it so wrong that I want this back?”

Papyrus wrapped his arms around him, lowering himself so that he could hug Minty properly.

“NOT AT ALL.”

Sans looked away from the pair to watch a group of boys approaching Oliver and his group, looking to pick a fight.

“here comes trouble.”

Helpless to do anything, they watched as Oliver and his friends became aware of the boys, recognition and dread crossing each of their faces.

“Look at the fags!” The largest boy happily crowed, “Still talking about baby shit like pokemon!”

None of the boys in Oliver’s group responded.

The boy smirked, “What’s wrong? Got nothing to say today?”

When they didn’t respond, he scoffed, holding out his hand, “Give us all your lunch boxes!”

The boys clung to their lunch boxes, looking at each for the support they couldn’t offer.

The boy frowned, “Don’t make me ask twice!”

As one, the boys in Olver’s group handed over their lunch boxes. They stood back and watched as the bully boys emptied each lunch box into each other’s arms, tossing out anything that wasn’t confectionary to the ground. As each box was emptied, the lunch boxes were thrown to the ground with loud, metal clangs ringing out and drawing in the other children’s attention.

“Why aren’t the teacher’s doing anything?” Minty said, looking around to see if someone was coming to save him.

Tina was looking around too, “There don’t appear to be any.”

“there really should be.” Sans said, placing both hands into his jacket as he hunched his shoulders.

“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!” cried out Papyrus, trying vainly to interfere somehow, “NO MONSTER SCHOOL WOULD HAVE EVER ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN! ALL OF THESE BOYS WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT THEY NEED TO MAKE BETTER CHOICES THAN THIS! WHY ARE THEY STEALING FOOD?? DON’T THEY HAVE SOME OF THEIR OWN??”

“Don’t think that’s the point.” Sighed Tina, recognition a power play when she saw it.

Indeed, it explained the boy’s next action.

The leader glanced down at the lunch box closet to him and laughed, “Oh god! They even have Pokémon lunch boxes!”

The others laughed as they held onto their stole snacks.

The leader grinned, placing his foot on the lunch box, “This is what I think of your stupid Pokémon!”

He ground the metal on the stone floor, quickly destroying the picture on the metal box as the paint was peeled off. The boy who’s lunch box it was reached a hand to stop him, but quickly pulled it back in, his eyes filling with tears.

Bored of that, the leader slammed the heel of his foot upon it, crushing the box’s centre.

“There! Much better now!”

He kicked each lunch box as hard as he could at Oliver and his friends, hitting each of their shins as they winched in pain. Still laughing, the bullies left, high fiving each other as they quickly turned their attention to the snacks.

Oliver and his friends moved to pick up their lunch boxes and the discarded food, before moving subdued back to their bench. The boy whose lunch box had been destroyed, stared teary eyes down at his.

Oliver, seeing this, held his out to him.

The boy looked up in surprise, “Wh-what are you doing?”

Oliver smiled, shaking the box at him, “Take mine.”

The boy looked down at his as his bottom lip wobbled, “You-you don’t have to….do that.”

“But I want to.” Oliver shook his lunch box again, “I know you like Charmander as much as I do.”

Wiping his eyes, the boy took the lunch box, before looking up at Oliver with a bigger smile, “Th-thank you, Oliver.”

Oliver beamed, “No problem!”

Papyrus patted the back of Minty’s shoulder, smiling down at the confused boy. “I ALWAYS KNEW YOU WERE A GOOD CHILD! IT’S WONDERFUL TO KNOW YOU WERE A GOOD PERSON, EVEN BEFORE YOU BECAME A BITTY!”

Minty blushed, looking pleased as the friends tried to recover what was left of their lunch, “Do-do you think that was the ‘bad’ thing? That seemed pretty bad to me.”

“sure hope so kid.” Sans said, looking around disheartened.

Tina felt disheartened too; the memory wasn’t fading to black. Surely that meant that there was more to today than just this.

~*~

The memory continued to play out, with the rest of the day going much the same as it had in the morning. Papyrus and Minty were both back to being bored, and the only action that took place was when Oliver raised his hand up to go to the bathroom due to missing his chance at lunch. The teacher had ignored him for such a long time, Tina was sure Oliver might actually have an accident in class, when she finally looked up and begrudgingly let him go.

“I don’t miss this teacher at all!” Minty said, glaring at her as Oliver fled the classroom.

Papyrus nodded, “IF WE’RE ALLOWED TO REMEMBER ANYTHING, THEN I WOULD CHOOSE THIS TEACHER’S NAME SO THAT I CAN WRITE A VERY STRONGLY WORDED LETTER OF COMPLAINT! IN FACT, I THINK I WOULD ALSO WRITE ONE TO THE PRINCIPLE AS WELL!”

The school's bell rang out for the day and Oliver (and by extension, all of them) went home. Oliver’s mother wasn’t waiting for him at the bus stop, but this appeared to be the norm, as Oliver waved goodbye to his friends still on the bus and made his way back.

When he reached the front door, he unlocked it with a key that was hidden in the overgrown garden, putting it back when the door was open.

“Mum! I’m home!”

Inside, the house was a mess; chaotic, cluttered and on the verge of being filthy. A television blared off towards a living room and there was no response from Oliver’s mother.

Sighing, Oliver kicked off his shoes by the front door and moved to the dining room table, putting his bag by its side so that he could reach in and pull out his homework. He struggled to answer a lot of the questions and would constantly look around, hoping his mother would just wander in, but when she didn’t, he would sigh and struggle some more.

The sun had set by the time he had, at last, finished.

Noticing the time was late, Oliver made his way into the kitchen, making himself a simple sandwich with ease.

“Why isn’t my mum home?” Minty whispered seeming have forgotten that he couldn’t be heard.

Papyrus looked equally concerned, “MAYBE SHE’S RUNNING LATE? IT MUST BE HARD TO LOOK AFTER A CHILD BY YOURSELF.”

“You do it Papy.”

“MOSTLY, BUT EVEN I RELY UPON SANS FROM TIME TO TIME.”

While the two talked, Sans and Tina were looking around the house, testing their limits to the distance they could stray from Oliver.

“Something’s wrong.” She growled, not liking this one bit.

Sans nodded as he roamed about the living room. While he did, Tina was looking at the few photos on the way, noting how there was an unknown man in most of the photos, but how most of the photos appeared to have been taken when Minty was really young. Whatever happened to the father, it was clear he wasn’t part of their lives any more.

“tina.” Sans’s voice called out to her, quietly, “i found the mum.”

As she moved to see for herself, Oliver had finished washing down his sandwich with a glass milk with a content sigh, placing the dishes in the sink. Hearing the television still playing, he headed towards it as Minty and Papyrus followed.

Tina quickly approached them, grabbing Minty’s shoulders, “Minty, have-have you looked at all these pictures yet? I think this might be your dad.”

Minty glanced up at them, looking thought full as Oliver came back from the living room, grabbing a blanket, “I guess he is! I wonder what happened to him?”

“Maybe we can figure it out with some clues in the picture?” She said tightly, hoping that the memory would fade into blackness soon.

Something in her tone must have cued him in, because he was looking at her, narrowing his eyes, “What’s happened Tina? Why are you acting weird?”

“It’s nothing-“

“That’s a lie!” He stood a little taller, “If this is my memory, then it doesn’t matter what happened to me, because I’ve already seen it.”

“Minty-“ she began, only for him to duck around her arms.

Minty quickly came into the living room to see Papyrus and Sans looking down at the couch, both of their faces twisted in regret, frustration, hopelessness and a deep sorrow.”

The boy grew nervous, “Pa-Papy?”

Papyrus looked up, tears in his eyes, “DON’T LOOK, MINTY. PLEASE.”

Minty ignored him, coming slowly around the couch to see for himself.

What first caught his attention was his past self on the floor, picking up needles and strange little bottles. The blanket Oliver had brought over had been tossed over his sleeping mother, who had an arm out with a strange plastic tube tied around her elbow, little red dots covering that particular spot.

Some of them looked like they had dried blood coming out of them.

Her skin looked weird, but he imagined that was probably due to the television and the dark room. Beyond that, she looked just as she had this morning, if not a few more tear tracks covering her cheeks.

He watched as his past self managed to pick up all the needles and seemed to know exactly where to take them, coming back to the living room far quicker than he would have done now. Oliver lifted up the blanket and lay down with his mother, pressing his back to her. He moved the arm resting on her side over him, struggling to do so, for some reason. Pressing the hand of this arm to his face, Oliver kissed it as he took a shuddering breath.

Wanting to know, for himself, what his mother’s skin felt like, Minty reached out and held the arm that was still sticking out.

It was colder than the room.

Dropping it like a live wire, Minty stood back and gapped at the scene before him, seeing Oliver starting to cry as he held his mother’s unresponsive hand to his face.

“Please mum, do-don’t ignore me.”

She never responded.

The room faded to darkness as Minty stood back in shock, unresponsive to Papyrus holding him. Before long, a deep, sorrowful noise sounded in Minty’s chest, before bursting out in loud, wailing sobs as he threw himself towards Papyrus, beyond inconsolable at the life he thought he might have just reclaimed, now lost forever.

Ink was standing with them, looking regretful.

“….Think the saddest story has to go to Minty.”

“This isn’t a game, you sick fuck.” Tina spat, already hugging Minty’s back.

“No, it’s not, is it?” Ink sighed, looking back at Sans, who stood proactively by, “Well, it’s about time for me to go anyway.”

“don’t come back.” Sans said, his fits clenching at his side.

Ink shook his head, “Not really my choice in the matter, Sansy.” He looked over to Minty, his expression falling, “I-I’m sorry. I-I can only hope that, next year, the Readers will ask for kinder things…”

Then he was gone, and the park they had been standing in before came back. Minty and Tina remained their human size, back to how they would have been if they hadn’t been turned into bitties, but it didn’t feel worth celebrating the apparent permanent change.

Not now.

 

Next chapter is called: Beach Day


	18. Beach Day

Tina was looking up from her breakfast to stare at Minty and Papyrus, who was grinning at her in eager anticipation.

“A beach trip?”

They nodded, their smiles only widening.

She glanced over at Sans, who seemed to be enjoying himself as he watched them all, “Why a beach day? Why just out of the blue like this?”

He shrugged, “it’s not like these two haven’t gone already or needed any particular reason to go back.”

“OF COURSE WE SHOULD GO TODAY!” Papyrus grinned, fully eager, “IT’S THE WEEKEND! THE SKY IS CLEAR, THE WEATHER IS PERFECT FOR CREATURES THAT HAVE SKIN! WHAT OTHER REASON COULD WE POSSIBLY NEED?”

“Yeah! Even your throat sounds better!” Minty exclaimed happily, hugging her side, “I can’t even remember the last time that you coughed!”

It was true that, ever since she had recovered from (for a lack of a better word) kidnapping Minty, her throat had been getting better with every passing day. Now, she only coughed if she yelled, which was rare in of itself.  Perhaps it was living in such a welcoming environment or having Minty with her, or it might have even been due to the warm SeaTea she now drank on a daily, morning bases at Papyrus's insistence. She made a note to talk Mama Cry tomorrow morning when they spoke next to ask what she thought it might have been.

In the meantime, she was still faced with a bitty boy looking at her like she was holding the ticket to his dreams.

“You know this means a bitty leash, right?”

He nodded, his smile just as strong.

“And that we’ll be going to the bitty section of the beach. That you can’t ask to go to the public beach?”

“I had fun the last time I went!” He grinned, “I liked playing with other bitty children again.”

At long last, she sighed, “I don’t know how I feel about this, but I guess-“

Minty lifted her up and spun her around in a tight circle as he cheered. Momentarily shocked that he could lift her, Tina quickly remembered bitty’s strength and hugged him back.

“Thank you Tina! Thank you!”

“You don’t have to thank me,” She grinned, rubbing his hair affectionally, “just be on your best behaviour, okay?”

He put her back down, nothing but grins.

“Always!”

~*~

Tina sat on Sans shoulder while Minty danced on Papyrus, who was so covered in various beach gear he was basically more equipment than skeleton. The mood getting here had been an excited one as Tina sat next to Minty in an extended bitty seat as they chatted joyfully to each other in their beach gear. The mood had not damped for Minty when Papyrus had clipped his bitty leash on him and Tina had appreciated Sans helping her by putting it on over some white shirt she had instead of a proper sun shirt.

Looking at it now, Tina wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Her previous owner hadn’t bothered with bitty leashes or the harness they were connected to (none of the owners had) because it became a liability when she was fighting. It was the reason her hair had been consistently shaved off. She didn’t necessarily like it, but it also represented proper ownership; that Sans and Papyrus cared enough about her and Minty’s safety.

Regardless of her exact feeling of the leash, the group walked passed the bitty leash laws signs, a few posters spouting anti-monster propaganda and through to the section that had been specifically separated for bitties and their adoptive families. A beach-side café/ shop acted as a checkpoint where the attending monster took one look at Tina and Minty before waving them through. Carrying all their stuff, they left the café and stepped into the open air of their own private beach, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the waves crashing and various individuals out and enjoying themselves all around them.

The bitty beach section was separated by distinct wooden/ glass walls around the property and a mesh of netting that enclosed the entire space. Seabirds were forced to go elsewhere and bitty children were free to run wherever they wanted as their parents unclicked their harness and let them run wild. While access to the open water was restricted, great lengths had gone into ensuring that the natural waves, sand, and salt water was allowed to enter in an open pool. Netting kept bitties from swimming out and animals from swimming in. The rest of the section was covered in sand, bitty-sized equipment, with a large playground that incorporated both monster children and their adopted bitty siblings in the same space.

Sans dumped the esky he had been carrying on a park bench they had claimed with a sigh, stretching his back as he took in the sights.

“sure looks like it’s going to be a nice day.” he grinned, watching all the monster parents chatting happily as their children played.

“I COULDN’T AGREE WITH YOU MORE SANS!”

Papyrus had finished putting everything he had been carrying on the ground and was sorting through a fanny pack he had around his waist. Finding what he was looking for, he pulled out a tube of sunscreen, placed a bit on his finger, then booped the distracted Minty on his face.

“Gah!” Minty complained as he wiped away the sunscreen.

Smiling, he turned to her, waggling his still covered finger.

Holding her hands out willing, Tina took the rest on the sunscreen and rubbed it on her arms and legs, keeping her top and bag on as she watched Minty hurriedly apply his.

“Done!” He called out, globs of sunscreen still on his face, “Can you let me go now? Please?!”

Papyrus unclipped him and took off his harness, but before he could get far, he had grabbed and was mushing the boy between his two hands, getting rid of the excess sunscreen.

“I’LL BE CHECKING UP ON YOU EVER HOUR, MINTY!” Papyrus warned as Minty complained between his fingers, “DON’T MAKE ME HUNT YOU DOWN; I AM RATHER GOOD AT CAPTURING HUMANS.”

Minty eventually wiggled his way to freedom and dropped to the floor, quickly taking off his shirt and running straight for the water, laughing as Papyrus struggled to get himself ready.

“MINTY! WAIT FOR ME!”

With a flair, Papyrus took off his top and pants to reveal a tuxedo- print speedo he wore under everything. As Minty kept running, Papyrus stumbled after him carrying various swimming gear, including water wings he was trying to inflate as he ran.

“Will they be alright?” Tina asked, watching them go.

Sans waved a hand dismissively, “yeah, they’ll be just fine.”

He turned his attention to the esky and opened it, fetching out a bottle of ketchup for him and a bottle for her. After plunging a small tapping device in through the bottle’s plastic, he placed the bottle next to her, handing her a bitty cup.

“Thanks Sans.” She said with a smile, turning the tap on the bottle to fill up her bottle.

He beamed as he set up the rest of the gear.

While she was sipping on her cold, tasty drink, Tina’s eyes drifted over to the sea, looking past Minty and Papyrus and instead, just looking out onto the ocean. Something….seemed familiar about it. Like she had seen a beach before, despite today being the first time she had ever gone to one….at least, since becoming a bitty. It was the same sensation she had whenever she was in the car of tasted a new flavour for a time; a reminder that she had memories of something but were now forever lost.

“you know, if you want to go for a swim, i don’t mind carrying you over.” Sans rested his head on his arms next to her, “i’ll even take ya outside the sanctuary and find ya a nice rock pool or something if you wanted to be out of here, away from everyone else.”

“I’m not that bothered being in here, strangely enough.” her eyes glanced over to the playground and she smiled as she watched the children play, “I think I rather like seeing bitty children playing with their siblings and parents. Might even draw up a few sketches.”

“thinking about drawing that ocean then?”

“…..I-I’ve got this feeling that I use to go to the beach with someone else…..” She whispered absentmindedly.

“a memory?” Sans asked, quickly.

She shook her head, “More like Deja Vu.” She looked back to the ocean, “I think I used to play in the waves with someone?”

“huh?”

She looked over at Sans and it looked like he was thinking rather hard about something. Seeing her glance back at him, his smile brightened back up, “well, we have a few rests before i plan to get started grilling. you planning to make your way to join minty and paps in the sea?”

She shook her head and clutched at her bag on her back, “Not if I can avoid it. I like having a bag of supplies within grabbing distance.” Her hand fell, “And-and I rather not reveal just how heavily scared I am.”

Sans’s smile slipped at her words and she watched how his hand tightened on his arm, “if i ever meet the guy-“ He closed his eyes for a moment, then sighed heavily, “well, whatever you end up doing today, just remember that i’m right here and i’m more than happy to carry you.”

“Thanks Sans.” She turned to face him, “And what are your plans for today?”

He shrugged and lifted his head, “something relaxing i guess. might sunbathe or take a nap in the shade somewhere.”

“Oh, the choices.” She grinned, climbing up his arm and up to his shoulder, “Sounds like hanging out with you is the best place to be if I want to get some sketches in.”

He beamed, “i was hoping you’d say that.”

~*~

So it was that Tina spent most of the day with Sans. Minty, at some point and dripping wet, had come back from the water and insisted that Tina join him. She had declined, of course, but it wasn’t hard to distract him from the idea by asking what he had been up to instead. As Minty launched into his epic tale of all these cool water games some of the other bitty children had shown him, Papyrus was working of an amazing sandcastle. Tina had taken a break from sketching various things from Sans’s chest to be dragged over by Minty, who had fun exploring what Papyrus had already built before digging his own tunnels. Tina had joined in, and the two of them had fun building hallways and crawl spaces to the various spires Papyrus had built. It ended with the sand castle collapsing on them, but it hadn’t taken Papyrus long to dig them out in his haste, holding two laughing bitties in his hands.

After that, Minty had been called over to the playground to play tag with his new bitty friends and a few monster children. Once again, Tina had declined to join, so she had gone back to Sans while Papyrus followed Minty, talking animatedly to a couple of monster parents as he bragged about how smart and well-behaved Minty was, much to the boy’s blushing embarrassment. It had certainly not helped when Papyrus had run off only to come back with his phone and had then proceeded to show off all his treasured photos.

Lunchtime soon came around, and Tina was fishing off a couple of her sketches on Sans’s shoulder as he worked the grill. The arrangement was familiar to the both of them; it wasn’t the first time Sans had worked a grill while she rested against his skull, drawing. When Minty and Papyrus had come back at last, Sans had a couple dogs resting on the grill as everything else was already laid out.

“have fun you two?” He asked, looking away from Tina sketching in front of him as they took their places at the table.

“I’VE BEEN GIVING A WHOLE LIST OF RECIPES THAT I CAN’T WAIT TO TRY!”

“And I’ve been giving so many phone numbers and e-mail address by all my new friends!” Minty said, coming to next to Tina before looking around at everyone else, “As-assuming that I can?”

Papyrus looked to Sans, who shrugged.

“….I THINK IT WOULD DO YOU SOME GOOD TO INTERACT WITH OTHER BITTIES MORE OFTEN.” Papyrus admitted, slowly, “WHAT DO YOU THINK SANS?”

He grinned, “sounds like a great idea to me bro.”

Papyrus beamed, “IT DOES, DOESN’T IT?” His eyes lit up, “THINGS HAVE GONE EXCEPTIONALLY WELL DURING THESE LAST FEW WEEKS, HAVEN’T THEY?”

Sans smiled and nudged Tina, “yes they have, haven’t they?”

She blushed as Minty hugged her and nodded his agreement, feeling proud of herself for a change. “It’s not hard to have things going so well when I’ve got all of you here making things easy for me.” She admitted, looking around the table.

“NONSENSE!” Papyrus exclaimed, “YOU SHOULD BE REALLY PROUD OF YOURSELF TINA! AND I WON’T ACCEPT YOU PUTTING DOWN OF ALL THE PROGRESS YOU’VE MADE ALL ON YOUR OWN!”

Minty fervently nodded his agreement as he clung to her side.

“But-“

“tina,” Sans said softly, lowering his head next to her, “trust us, yea? if you can’t see the progress, trust us when we say that we can and we’re all really impressed with just how far you’ve come.”

The sincerity in his eyes made her want to believe him even if she couldn’t believe it herself.

So she nodded, blushing slightly at his praise.

Papyrus beamed, before continuing, “SO I WAS THINKING, SINCE MINTY SEEMED TO ENJOY TALKING TO THE OTHER BITTY CHILDREN SO MUCH AND IT WOULD PROBABLY BE A GOOD IDEA FOR HIM TO HANG OUT WITH THEM ON A REGULAR BASES, IF I SHOULDN’T PURSUE SOME SORT OF GET TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER MONSTERS WITH BITTY WARDS.”

Minty’s eyes lit up, “Y-you mean, having actual friends again?? People I get to see again and again??”

“OF COURSE!” Papyrus looked over to Sans and Tina, “ASSUMING NEITHER OF YOU CAN SEE ANY SORT OF DOWNSIDE?”

Tina shook her head; it was obvious how desperate Minty had become for more social interactions and it would do him good to hang out with other kids.

“work keeps ya pretty busy paps. how do you plan to manage that?” Sans pointed out.

“THROUGH A COMBINATION OF WEEKENDS, SHIFTING GUARDIAN DUTIES WITH YOU TWO AND A BUILD UP OF TRUST AS WE GET TO KNOW AND BOUND WITH THE OTHER PARENTS!”

Tina felt uneasy, “I don’t know how I feel about just trusting the other parents. I much prefer being there with either you or Sans, Papyrus.”

He rubbed the back of his head and looked awkward, “S-SURE!.....I MEAN, I BELEIVE A GOOD PLAN WOULD BE TO SLOWLY BUILD THAT TRUST OVER TIME, BU-BUT I ALSO THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA IF WE SLOWLY….JUST….KEPT OUR DISTANCE?”

“What are you saying?”

Papyrus quickly waved his hands about, “I’M TALKING ABOUT A PERIOD OVER A REALLY LONG TIME, EASING INTO IT FOR US ALL,” He sighed, “BUT I THINK THE EVENTUAL GOAL SHOULD BE TO LEAVE MINTY ALONE TO MAKE NEW FRKIENDS….WITHOUT US BEING THERE.”

Tina felt her soul still.

“tina?” Sans asked quickly.

“No.” She said, flatly.

Papyrus smile slipped. “…..WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO COME WITH ME FOR A WALK SO THAT WE CAN DISCUSS THIS IN PRIVATE?”

She nodded and made her way to the offered hand; she had already spent time alone with Papyrus to trust that she was safe with him, and she trusted him as a good guardian of Minty and never had any complaints on the calls he made in his care of Minty.

But he was just wrong about this!

Papyrus carried them away from the concerned looks of Sans and Minty and walked a distance away to settle at the base of a tree in the shade, overlooking the sea.

“How can you be okay with just leaving Minty in someone else care Paps??” She asked, leaping for his knee so that she could stare up into his face.

“I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE MINTY-“

“You’re talking about leaving him at some stranger’s place!”

“OVER TIME, TINA! OVERTIME!” He rubbed the side of his face, staring sadly down at her, “DID YOU SEE HOW HAPPY HE WAS PLAYING WITH THE OTHER CHILDREN?”

She nodded.

“DO YOU NOT AGREE THAT HE SHOULD HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO DO THAT?”

“But why can’t we be there?! Keeping him safe?!”

Papyrus’s gazed softened, “BECAUSE WE’RE ADULT, TINA, AND ADULTS TEND TO GET IN THE WAY OF CHILDREN FRIENDSHIPS.”

“I won’t get in the way,” She argued, “I’ll stay back and just watch from afar.”

“LEAVING MINTY THE ONLY CHILD WITH AN ADULT OVERWATCHING HIM AND THUS, SINGLING HIM OUT?”

Tina dropped her hand in mid-argument, looking quickly away.

“TINA,” Papyrus said, softly, “DON’T MISTAKE THIS AS ME LIKING THE IDEA ANYMORE THAN YOU.” He sighed heavily, “BUT I’VE SEEN, FIRST-HAND, JUST HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR CHILDREN TO JUST HAVE FUN AND BE KIDS, WHILE THEY CAN. YOU-YOU DON’T WANT THEM GROWING UP TOO FAST AND MISSING OUT ON SUCH AN IMPORTANT TIME IN THEIR LIVES.”

She sat down and refused to look him in the eye. “I-I just…..worried.”

Papyrus’s hand cupped her back as his thumb rubbed her back in gentle circles, “ME TOO! I THINK THE FIRST TIME I LEAVE MINTY ANYWHERE BY HIMSELF WILL BE THE DAY I MAKE THE MOST CALLS TO A SINGLE PERSON!” His tone softened, “BUT THAT IS WHY I SAID OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME, AND ONLY WHEN WE BOTH FEEL READY FOR IT.” He lifted her chin gently with his other hand, beaming at her, “I THINK THE FIRST TIME YOU LEAVE BUT I STAY WILL BE THE HARDEST ON YOU, BUT WHEN IT’S YOUR TURN TO STAY AND I MUST GO, I KNOW I’LL BE CALLING YOU AS OFTEN AS I CAN!”

She smiled, “I guess we can add that to something we have in common.”

His smile brightened, “SO, DOES THAT MEAN IT’S A YES? REMEMBER, MY PLAN WAS NEVER TO JUST DUMP HIM WITH MONSTERS WE DON’T KNOW.”

Tina patted his knee, “I know…..I guess it was a bit silly of me to think of it like that.”

He picked her up, cupping her to his face, “A TOUCH SILLY, YES, BUT IT DOES SHOWS JUST HOW MUCH YOU CARE.”

~*~

Papyrus and Tina came back soon after that, where Tina gave her blessing to the idea. Minty tackled hugged her again as Sans watched on, smiling happily. After that, lunch was enjoyed and eaten by everyone, with Papyrus leaving with Minty to talk to the other parents about arranging places to meet up again while Minty ran about with his new friends in the sand and waves.

Leaving it just the two of them.

Sans looked about the stuff he had packed away as the sun was setting with a content smile.

“i’d say today was a pretty good day.”

She nodded, sitting back and watching the sea.

Sans, watching her, seemed to be thinking of something else. After a long stretch of silence, she looked back to see him watching her, smiling in the afternoon light.

“Sans?”

“……i’ve been wanting to go and have a look around, outside of this sanctuary, all day.  s’wondering if you’d join me?”

“What would we be looking for, exactly?”

He shrugged, “who knows. part of the fun with wondering about is that you don’t know where you’ll end up or what you’ll see.”

Tina looked outside, beyond the sanctuary's walls and found herself actual curious about what she would see. She wanted to say that the curious feeling was coming from memories she no longer had….but if she was really honest with herself, she knew it was just a desire she had. A want but not a need.

It-it had been a long time since she wanted to do anything that didn’t serve a purpose of some sort. Something just for her.

So, she nodded and climbed up next to a beaming Sans’s face.

Leaving their stuff in the organised piles, Sans went off and towards Papyrus, who was in the middle of chatting happily with a couple of monster parents.

“hey paps.” Sans greeted, moving to stand behind him and tapping him on the shoulder before thumbing over his shoulder, “me and tina are going to go for a wander for a couple of minutes.”

“REALLY??” Papyrus turned around quickly and Tina saw how the other monsters looked at her with piked interests, “THAT’S WONDERFUL! YOU SHOULD GO! RIGHT NOW!”

“we’re going, we’re going.” Sans laughed as he was turned around and pushed away but his eager brother, “just thought you should know.”

“AND NOW I DO! SO, BE SURE TO TAKE HER LEASH AND STAY SAFE OUT THERE YOU TWO! PUT ON PLENTY OF SUNSCREEN ON AND DRINK LOTS OF WATER…..NOT SEA WATER, OBVIOUSLY!”

Sans’s smile slipped as he glanced over at Tina, but he just shrugged and kept walking towards the café’s exit Papyrus had steered him to, the pair of them returning Papyrus’s wave of goodbye.

When they were a distance away, Sans made a show of patting down his plain top and board shorts, “oh dear. it seems i forgot to bring along the leash.” He held up a sunscreen tube, “but i have this on me. oh well, i guess we’ll have to go on without a leash.”

“What are you doing with sunscreen?” She asked, eyeing his bones, “Is there such a thing as ‘bone burn’?”

Sans chuckled and pocketed the sunscreen, “nah. had to put on a few layers on minty. you would not believe how many tubes papyrus brought.”

She grinned, “Actually, I think I might.”

They shared a laugh as Sans walked, before he came to a stop off to the side, peering at café’s exit where the walls were covered in reminders about bitty leashes. Turning away from them, Sans instead walked along the wall, away from everyone else and peering out pass the surround wooden/glass walls.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“looking for a place we can sneak out without being seen.”

“Why not just go back and grab mine? I think I remember what bag you put it into.”

Sans stopped and looked over at her, his expression conflicted. “kid, doesn’t that leash bother you? why would you ask me to grab it for ya when i’m offering to get you out without one?”

She shrugged, “To be honest Sans, I’m not all that bothered by it. It’s comfortable, it doesn’t get in the way and it keeps bitty from being snatched. Why would it bother me?”

His smile fell, “it …..demeans you as an individual, tina.”

Tina wasn't sure where that expression of his was coming from. So, instead, she looked away, rubbing her arm. “It’s just the way the world is Sans.”

There was an awkward moment of silence.

“…..well, if you don’t care either way, i’m going to continue with my plan and sneak you out.”

He held a hand out to her, where she climbed on, unsure what he was thinking of exactly.

“You plan to dig us a way out?” she said, eying the sand because the wall was way too high for anyone to climb.

He chuckled, “nah, i know a better way, but it requires you thinking of what your favourite part of today has been.”

“…..What?”

“picture what your favourite part of today was in your mind clearly. i need you to think of every detail, really picture, and make sure it really is your favourite.”

Still confused, she did as he asked, trying to decide between them.

As she thought, there was a free-falling endlessly sensation in the pit of her stomach that made her kneel on San’s hand, clasping her stomach as nausea took hold.

She felt Sans’s hand on her back, his thumb rubbing soothing circles. “you okay kid?”

She groaned, “What happened?”

“i took a shortcut. it’s a trick i know how to do, but it can cause a bit of nausea for the passenger if they’re not distracted. see? we’re outside.”

So they were. It was….strange, how different the beach look from this side of the glass walls. She couldn’t decide if this was better or worse; it was just different. What she could decide, looking back at all the bitties and their enclosure, was the sanctuary didn’t look so open or free from this side.

Gingerly, Tina rolled over to sit on Sans’s palm as he carried her across the golden sands, keeping her close to his chest as she shook off the lingering effects of nausea.

“Is that why you asked me about my favourite part of today?” she asked. “To distract me?”

Sans sighed softly, smiling in the setting sun, “that, and i really want to know.”

“I was still trying to decide when you took your shortcut magic or whatever you call it.”

“that works.” he chuckled, “but i believe that lame man’s term is ‘teleportation’.”

“No kidding?” She looked up to see him shake his head, still beaming. “huh?” She shrugged and looked back to the shore that Sans was walking along, his bone feet occasionally getting washed over by the waves, “If I had to choose, it would probably have to be any time Minty was laughing.”

“so, the entire day then?”

“…….Yeah. I-I guess today has really been a good day. Even that talk I had with Paps was a good thing.” she settled against Sans’s chest, “Shows how far I’ve come with him.”

Sans hummed his agreement, continuing his lazily stroll.

“How about you Sans? What’s been your favourite part of today?”

“still haven’t decided kid.” He lifted her to his shoulder, nuzzling her briefly as he walked, “kinda hoping that today continues providing my new favourite moment.”

Tina found herself lightly rubbing the side he had nuzzled her on, a light blush on her cheeks.

~*~

They continued to walk for a time, with Sans occasionally picking up odd things off the beach and showing her, pocketing it if she asked. Mostly they were silent, occasionally commentating of something they saw as the beach began to empty and the day came to an end. Tina had her sketch pad with her, but found she didn’t want to sketch for a change.

Not when resting on Sans’s skull was so comfortable and relaxing to do.

As they neared a rocky wall, Sans called out, “oh hey, check it out.”

Being her attention back to their immediate surroundings, she watched as Sans climbed up and onto sea-worn rocks and boulder, trying to keep from slipping as he travelled further in.

“What is it?”

Rather than answer, Sans moved and stepped into a rock pool, sitting down at its edge. It was filled with clear sea water, with sand and shells at its bottom and a school of small fish swimming about.

Her eyes widening, Tina slid down Sans’s shirt and walked across his board shorts to sit on his kneecap, peering into the water.

“thinking of going for a swim?” He asked.

Tina back up, her eyes locked on the water, “I-I don’t know how.”

Sans was quiet for a moment, “….is that why you said no earlier?”

Tine shrugged, “I’ve got a few reasons….but, yeah.”

“it’s not too late to learn, or you don’t have to swim if you don’t want to.”

“What else are you thinking of?” She asked, peering back at him.

Instead of answering, Sans took off his shirt, tossing it to the drier looking rocks. Grinning at her, he offered his hand, smiling softly as he took in her blush as settled quickly on his palm with her back to him, before sliding into the water, keeping her above the water. Settling in, the water came up to his chest, and when he sat cross-legged, his legs were under all the water.

“shoulder or knee?” he asked, bringing her lower to the water.

“Kn-knee.” she said, completely taken aback by all of this.

Gently, he levelled off his hand close to his knee, keeping it there while Tina tested the water, eventually leaving her legs soaking in the water as she sat on Sans’s hand. When she decided to try sitting on his knee, she pulled off her bag and looked up to Sans.

“Would you-“

His other hand plucked the bag from her offered grip and placed it gently off to the side on the rocks at his back.

Smiling gratefully, Tina turned and made her way to the knee, shrieking a bit as the cold water came higher up on her. Eventually, she eased into sitting down, grinning as the cool water rose up to her chest.

“how’s the water?” Sans asked, chuckling softly behind her.

She looked over her shoulder and grinned, “Crisp! Can-can you even feel it?”

He shrugged, “a bit. i feel heat more than anything else, and your body is creating a nice pleasant warm spot on my leg.”

She blushed and looked away, “Th-thanks Sans.”

He chuckled, sounding quite pleased.

Sans seemed content to sit back and listen to the waves crashing in the distant. Tina, however, was attracted to the water, and she found herself pushing it about her, wanting to get further in. Like he knew, Sans moved his hand next to her, where she looked back at him in surprise.

“i can lower my hand into the water, if you want.” He offered.

Beaming, Tina moved onto his hand and watched as the water rose as Sans lowered his hand in. When it was up to her shoulders, Sans stopped.

“how’s that kid?”

“This- this is amazing!” she admitted, enjoying how light the water made her body feel. Moving about on his hand, she had fun playing about in the water, slowly moving around. When she dunked her head completely under the water, her grin grew as the cool water felt refreshing on her skin and soaked her hair.

Gasping for a breath, Tina pulled her head out of the water after looking underwater, marvelling the sights as the sunlight’s beams hit the water and streamed in, showing just on amazing the rock pool really was.

That is, until she realised that a white shirt did not make the best suntop. Looking down, Tina could see her bikini showing a bit through the shirt. Not at all comfortable with her body’s image, she blushed in embarrassment, she quickly tucked herself into a ball.

“Um, Sans? I-I need a bit of help.”

He didn’t immediately move and she thought for sure he was just staring at her. When his hand did eventually touch her back and he ignored her violent flinch, it was hesitant as his thumb rubbed her back.

“tina? are-are you okay?”

The sorrow in his voice confused her.

“Sans, it’s just my shirt that’s see- oh.” She looked over her shoulder at him, “You-you can see all the scars, right?”

He nodded, gazing sadly at her back as his thumb traced one of the larger ones that went from shoulder to hip.

“….I guess you can see why I didn’t want to take my shirt off.” she whispered, holding herself tighter in an effort to hide.

She was too focused on hiding and cowering to notice that Sans had moved his face to her back, but she did feel it when he lightly pressed his teeth to her back.

“these scars don’t make you any less beautiful, tina.” he whispered softly.

Tears crept to her eyes as her body shuddered in response, “Yes they do.”

He pressed his teeth to her back again, “no, they don’t. and,” he said, interrupting her response, “if you keep insisting otherwise, i’ll keep kissing your back.”

“You’re-you’re kissing me??” She asked, blushing even more.

“little skeleton kisses, but yes.”

She fell silent, before she dared to ask, “….How Sans? How can you look at me and not see ugliness? You-you know what I did to get these scars.”

Sans moved his hand to his chest, cradling her against his ribs as he kept rubbing her back gently. “you weren't responsible for being in that situation in the first place, tina. how can i ever think these scars make you ugly when all i can see is all the incredible display on inner strength you’ve shown to rise above it?”

Hearing him say that……made her doubt some of the self-hate she had always within her. It wasn’t much and it certainly did make that feeling of feeling so broken, evil and wrong leave or lessen.

But it helped.

“……..Hey Sans?”

“hmm?”

“I-I think this is my favourite part of today.”

 

Next chapter is called: The Dinner Party


	19. The Dinner Party

Tina and Sans didn’t mention the moment they shared in the rock pool as they joined Papyrus and Minty back at their setup within the bitty sanctuary's walls. Of course, that didn’t stop either Papyrus or Minty from noticing that two of their favourite people looked happier as they all packed and headed back home. For Minty, it was vindication that this beach was a brilliant idea and something they should do every weekend! For Papyrus, it was a glimmer of hope for Sans, for Tina, for them all being a family and for other ambitious goals that would only strengthen what was already there.

The first thing on Papyrus ambitious goals was getting Minty’s playgroup set up with the monster parents he had arranged to meet again. As was predicted, the first meeting with the adoptive monster parents between them and Tina sitting stiffly on Papyrus shoulder while Minty played where she could see him was tense. She had refused to talk to them beyond one-word answers during what could only be described as uncomfortable small talk, despite Papyrus’s best encouragements. He had wounded if he should have brought Sans along as well, if things might have gone better if he had, but it had been Sans that encouraged both Tina and Papyrus to go ahead with their plans together.

“it’ll be good for both of you bro.”

So Papyrus had persisted through the small talk and eventually arranged for another get together with the monster parents when Tina hadn’t objected to him doing so (much to Minty’s obvious delight). The trip home after had been all about what he had done with the other children, their names, what they were like, and any other details he could squeeze into the conversation. When Tina had placed Minty in his bed in the house they shared in the hall, she had returned to Papyrus having his evening tea next to Sans to talk more openly about what she had thought about the whole arrangement.

There was a lot of unease, doubts and fears on her end, but the only thing she would admit was that Minty had become social starved since leaving Mama Cry’s centre and that she, Tina, would require more time before she did (if ever) feel comfortable around that many strangers at once, let alone leaving Minty with them. Papyrus had, of course, offered to leave her behind or to carry on the small talk by himself, but Tina had flatly refused to not be there. She would have agreed to let Papyrus give her an out on all the forced small talk, but Sans had asked her to at least try talking to the other monster parents, even if it was just to say hello.

“Why?” She had asked, genuinely curious. Small talk, from what she could tell, existed to allow people to get to know more about each other, and she had no interest getting to know these monsters beyond knowing they were safe for Minty.

Sans had just shrugged as he grinned over at her sitting on Papyrus’s knee, “because you’ve already mastered talking to us, and when you did that, you got more comfortable around us. plus, your ability to communicate got better too. keep talking to these guys and i'm sure it’ll help make you feel better around them while making sure your opinions and wants aren’t ignored too.”

The idea that these monsters would care or would even take into consideration her opinions or wants felt as foreign as suddenly discovering she could fly this whole time…..but it didn’t stop his words strike a chord with her or her wishing it was true.

So next time, for Minty’s sake and for hers, Tina expanded her answers beyond just one word or simply ignoring them. The second meeting felt just as stressful and as tense as before….but not so much the third. By the fourth, she actually had something to eat, and every meeting after that saw little improvements.

Papyrus was so impressed by her progress, he felt okay with bringing up an issue that had been upsetting him for a while now.

“A dinner party with all your friends?” she asked, confused.

Minty’s eye lit up as they were eating dinner one night, the boy quickly abandoning his food to leap from his seat and running excitedly to Papyrus’s hand on the table, “Can we go this time?? All of us?!”

“I HAVE TO MAKE SURE, MINTY!” Papyrus looked away from the excited boy to look at her, Sans watching carefully in the background, “YOU KNOW HOW SANS AND I MET FRISK, RIGHT? HOW THEY FELL AND WERE GUIDED TO SAFETY BY A RATHER HANDSOME SKELETON (WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OTHERS, I GUESS) TO BREAK THE BARRIER, THUS, SETTING US FREE?”

She nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“WELL, AFTER WE GOT OUT AND THEY WERE OFFICIALLY ADOPTED BY THE QUEEN, FRISK KEPT WAITING TO SEE ALL OF THE FRIENDS THEY MADE UNDERGROUND, WITH ME BEING THEIR VERY BEST FRIEND, ALL THE TIME.” His expression fell, “BETWEEN HOW BUSY THEY WERE WITH ALL OF THAT AMBASODR WORK PLUS HOW BUSY WE ALL WERE WITH OUR OWN PROJECTS, SEEING FRISK GOT HARDER AND HARDER TO DO, AND IT…WAS STARTING TO MAKE THEM REALLY SAD AND LONELY. TO FIX THIS, SANS SUGGESTED WE ALL MAKE SEEING THEM A ONCE A WEEK THING TO DO, AND THAT’S HOW THE DINNER PARTIES BEGAN!”

“We haven’t gone to one since…oh.” Minty glanced over at her, understanding him hitting him.

“we’ve had to pardon ourselves because we didn’t want to overwhelm you,” Sans looked away from her to his brother, a frown on his face, “or make you feel guilty for our decision to stay away.”

Papyrus nodded, looking back at her, “AND YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL GUILTY! WE LOVE YOU AND WANTED TO MAKE YOU FEEL HAPPY AND SAFE FIRST!.....ONLY, FRISK KEEPS ASKING ME WHEN CAN SANS AND I MAKE IT TO THE NEXT ONE. I THOUGHT, SINCE YOU’RE GETTING SO MUCH BETTER TALKING TO PEOPLE, YOU’D MIGHT LIKE TO MET SOME OF OUR FAMILY FRIENDS FOR A FUN DINNER PARTY?”

“Wh-what if I said no?” She asked, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of spending an evening with monsters she didn’t know.

Minty’s shoulders slumped in disappointment, but Papyrus smiled softly, “THEN WE’LL KEEP EXCUSING OURSELVES UNTIL YOUR ANSWER CHANGES…IF IT CHANGES, I SHOULD SAY.”

“Please, Tina!” Minty begged coming back to her, “Everyone there is super nice, and Toriel makes the best pies, and Metatton has the coolest things to share with us, and Alphys is just as shy as you but just as nice, and-!”

“gonna have to stop you there minty and ask to have a quiet word with tina first.” Sans interrupted him, his hand now out next to her.

She looked at it in surprise, “Sans?”

His eyes met hers, “please, it’s important.”

Nodding, she jumped on and allowed Sans to carry her away from Papyrus’s concerned eyes and Minty’s putout expression. He carried her upstairs in silence, heading to and entering what she could only assume was his room. In all the time she had spent here, she had never been in this room yet. It felt….too personal to just come out and ask, to satisfy some curiosity.

When Sans turned on a light, she could see that the room itself was about the same size as Papyrus’s, with its own bitty house in the corner of the room in front of what looked like a built in wardrobe. The room was cluttered with scattered clothes about, an unmade bed in one corner and a messy desk in the other. It was this desk he headed to, placing her gently on as he sat in the nearby chair.

“you doing okay?”

Sighing, Tina turned to look up at Sans, already expecting that question. “I’m fine, Sans.”

He nodded, although there was doubt still there, “and your thoughts about the party?”

She rubbed her arm, “He..they both miss these get-togethers you guys had, don’t they.”

It wasn’t a question; it was fairly obvious, even if only Minty wasn’t capable of hiding it

He nodded, “but that shouldn’t affect your decision. if you don’t want to go, then we don’t go. simple.”

“But it’s not simple Sans.” She met his eyes, firmly, “They both really want to go.”

“then they can go by themselves and you and i can have a nice quiet evening here by ourselves.”

She thought about it, and two very separate feelings on unease crept into her stomach, twisting it. On the one hand, while she had met Frisk briefly, it sounded like there would be any number of monsters she had never met would be there, with Minty. Were they safe? Would they continue being safe? How was she suppose to feel comfortable with the idea of Minty spending an evening with people she had never met? Any number of things could go wrong and her mind provided a great number of them now for her to fret over.

On the other hand, the idea of being here….alone with Sans? The moment by the beach came unbidden into her mind, twisting her stomach further. It was…a different feeling from the intense feeling of dread and worry she had about Minty being gone, but it affected her in much the same way.

“Sans, I-I don’t think I would be okay with this unless I met your friends at least once.” She looked up at him, holding her stomach, “I-I’m getting better, I really am, but I’m not there with the monster parents from Minty’s playgroup yet. How can I be okay with this?”

“it’s only for a couple of hours, tina.”

“The playdates are just as long as that.”

He sighed heavily, dragging a hand over his skull, “……undyne is going to be there.”

“Undyne?” She said, confused, “Should I know who that is, or, are they a bitty hatter or something?”

“undyne? no, she’s good, but you two…have met before. you met on the night you were rescued from the fights, if you remember?”

Tina stilled, as she always did when this conversation came up. Still, she cast her mind back, trying to think of any details from that night.

But there was nothing substantial; only odd smells, flashes of light and yelling voices.

If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was how her mind had protected her by blocking out a lot of time she had spent as the child-killer known as Ten. Of course, that didn’t stop her subconscious dragging out memories in her sleep, where, if a child’s face (almost always covered in blood and looking terrified), came to the forefront, she would add it to her most private of sketch pads, hidden under her mattress.

She rubbed the scar across her throat without realising it. “I-…….I don’t remember much.” She looked up at him, “What happened?”

“she was one of the monsters that raided the rings. actually, she’s captain of the royal guard; papyrus’s boss.” Sans expression fell, “when i saw her, trying to get information about what happened that night, i…found out she wasn’t in favour of letting you stay with mama cry. she didn’t think you were safe…that you shouldn’t be allowed near the children.”

“Oh….Well, she was right.”

“excuse me?” Sans exclaimed, sitting back, “tina, she was not right. you proved she wasn’t right.”

“I got lucky, Sans. The children at Mama Cry’s got lucky. It all could have gone horribly wrong and she was right to fear that it might have. Honestly, it was rather irresponsible to place me where I was, even if I’m grateful that I was.”

“but doesn’t the fact that it all worked out prove that mama cry was right to try? to give you a shot? for star's sake tina, you have the right to not have everyone around you assume the worst.”

“But the worse was really bad, Sans. The worst it could have possibly been, actually.” She looked at his frown in confusion, “I don’t understand why you getting upset about this.”

“tina, she wanted to put you down! like a wild, rabid animal or something. all because of what ‘might’ have happened, which never did!”

She stared up him for a moment, each staring the other down.

“I was a wild rabid animal Sans.” She stated clearly, “I don’t have to be proud of that fact, but I refuse to pretend otherwise.”

“………fine.” He cupped her in his hands, lowering his face close to her, “but tina, you don’t have to see yourself like that.”

“Sans-“

“please.” He insisted, “let others say and call you whatever they want, but i don’t want to hear you call yourself those things too.” His thumb rubbed her back in soothing circles, “please?”

Tina placed her hand on his, comparing just how small her hand was on his, “……Okay.”

“good. now, can i convince you to stay?”

“Because Undyne’s going to be there?”

He nodded.

“Sans, my answer hasn’t changed, it’s just going to be…an interesting night.”

He let out a long sigh, “that’s one way to put it… if i can’t convince you, i can at least offer you an out. i won’t lie and say undyne’s going to be all that friendly to you, but you and i can leave any time we want.”

“What about Papyrus and Minty?”

“i’m all but certain they’d leave soon after we did, if it came to that.”

“That…helps.” She patted his hand, “Thank you, Sans.”

His smile softened, “no problem tina. whatever i can do to make that night easier for you, you just let me know, okay?”

~*~

The night of the apparently weekly get together for Frisk and all of their friends happened the next night. Only, not only were Sans, Papyrus and Minty making their long overdue comeback, but they had an additional member with them that everyone was looking forward to meeting.

Sans had spoken to each of them about the bitty called Tina (a particularly lengthy discussion with Undyne), so they had all been made or less aware she was a bit on the shy side, who must not be grabbed or separated from Minty for any reason. They had been warned that she might ignore them or might disappear for a few minutes for no apparent reason, but, as Sans had explained, she would hardly be the first monster they had all met who was shy and didn’t take well to being the centre of everyone’s attention. However, since most of them already knew about the bitty fight rings and knew that Sans had adopted a survivor, they didn’t ask too many questions of him, beyond what they could do to make tonight better for Tina.

In the end, only Metatton wouldn’t know, even if that gossiping bucket of bolts had a way of knowing things he shouldn’t.

Tina knew none of this as she sat on Sans’s shoulder as he walked next to his brother, Minty practically bouncing on Papyrus’s shoulder. All she knew was that Minty and Papyrus were really looking forward to this, Sans seemed more hesitant, she was about to meet a bunch of strangers in a gathering of friends, there was one monster here who had recommended her death, and that she could leave at a moments notice.

That last one helped keep her calm as she watched Papyrus knock on the cottage’s door as they all stood in the front yard’s beautiful garden. Soon, the door was opening and Papyrus took a smart step back, his cooked dish in one hand while his other hand moved to help his pose look more epic.

“NYEH HEH HEH! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HERE AT LONG LAST WITH HIS EQUALLY AMAZING FAMILY!”

In the open doorway was a kind-looking goat monster, with the softest looking white fur ever and two small horns on the top of her head with long, floppy ears. Her long plain, purple dress swished around her padded feet as she beamed at the whole lot of them, a hand covering her playful smile.

“Ah yes, The Great Papyrus and his Great Family. We have been eagerly expecting you. Thank you for coming; I know it’s been a while.”

“IF TONIGHT GOES SPENDOULRY (WHICH IS SHALL), THEN IT IS MY HOPE WE’LL BE BACK TO ATTENDING ON A WEEKLY BASES!” He made a sweeping gesture to Sans and Tina, “LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO OUR NEWEST FAMILY MEMBER, TINA! TINA, THIS IS TORIEL, QUEEN OF THE MONSTERS AND NOT A CLOSE OF ASGORE.”

Toriel bent her head towards her, lowering herself until she was on Tina's eye level, her eyes lighting up in recognition, “Hello Tina, it is good to see you looking so much better since I last saw you.”

“You’ve met Tina already??” Minty exclaimed.

She nodded, throwing Sans a questioning glance, “Just once. It was back when she was at Mama Cry’s place, although, we didn’t really…meet, per say.”

Sans shrugged, winking at Minty, “you know how shy tina can be; not many people got the chance to meet her like you did kid.”

As Minty beamed proudly, Toriel stepped aside to allow them in. “Come in then. I know my child has been eager to meet you all again.”

Papyrus lead the way in as Sans followed him, giving Tina her first look inside the cottage. It was rather warm, open and inviting, with flowers growing in pots on just about every surface. A happy, welcoming fire crackled in a fireplace that was the centrepiece of the living room, which was connected to an open kitchen and dining room. There was a hallway that looked like it lead to more rooms, but Tina’s eyes were drawn to all the monster chatting to each other, with the one human exception leaping from the couch the moment Toriel closed the door behind them.

“Papyrus! Sans! You’re here!”

“Hi Frisk!” Minty greeted as Frisk ran over to them, getting spun hugged by Papyrus one-handed.

Once their feet were back on the ground, Frisk smiled up at Minty, “It’s good to see you too, Minty!” They’re eyes slide over to her and Sans, “And you as well as, Tina.”

Tina nodded as she watched Sans shake Frisk's hand (after receiving a thorough hand inspection from Frisk), taking in the teenage human appearance. Puberty was making the young female bloom, but Frisk still preferred clothes and a hairstyle that downplayed their femininity; preferring the 'they' and 'them' pronouns. It hadn’t mattered to Frisk's monster friends and family, her or Minty, who had just shrugged and only now and then used the wrong pronoun.

 _‘Another example of monster acceptance.’_ Tina thought as Toriel came over to take the covered pasta dish from Papyrus, smiling as she added it to the pile of food already on the table.

“Everyone? Since everyone’s here, I thought we might get started on dinner. If you could all join me over here please?” The gentle goat monster said, sitting next to a far bigger, more masculine goat monster with a crown and regal looking clothes.

“Ah,” This goat monster greeted, his big smile not at all hidden by his long, yellow beard, “Papyrus! I was hoping you’d show.”

“AH YES!,” Papyrus said, taking his spot at the table next to Sans as everyone else joined them, “ANY PARTY THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS IN ATTENDING IS AUTOMATICALLY THE BEST!”

“I just love your confidence darling!” Exclaimed a metal box with a pixellated screen, who was the only one not sitting down (due to, Tina guessed, the one wheel that balanced his body on a single stand) and with a lack plate in front of him.

The male goat monster chuckled, “It certainly is, but I wanted to thank you in person for all the effort you’ve been putting into getting other monsters to adopt bitties.”

“IT’S NO TROUBLE AT ALL KING ASGORE!” Papyrus brought Minty off his shoulder to nuzzle him briefly, before placing him on the table so Minty could sit at the bitty table already set on top of the table. “MINTY HAS ONLY BROUGHT LOVE AND JOY INTO MY LIFE, AND IF THE BEAUTIFUL VISAGE OF MY FABULOUS SELF AND MINTY TOGETHER IS ENOUGH TO CONVINCE OTHERS TO ADOPT, THEN I WILL GLADLY POSE FOR AS MANY PHOTOS AND EVENTS AS YOU NEED ME TOO! MY LIFE HAS NEVER FELT SO COMPLETE; IT’S LIKE THERE WAS SOMETHING MISSING IN MY LIFE, BUT THAT’S LONG GONE NOW!”

Frisk threw Sans a guilty look, which he missed as his attention was on helping Tina get to the table before using his magic to drag their table closer to him and Papyrus. Tina threw a thankful look at him, before joining Minty at the bitty table, her legs a little stiff as she carefully watched all the monsters around her.

Asgore chuckled, helping himself to a plateful for dinner as Papyrus was already serving both Minty and Tina, “How many times do I need to ask that you just call me Asgore, Papyrus?”

“ER….”

“It’s simply amazing how much changes when you have a young one under your care.” Toriel crowed, loving stroking Frisk’s hair, who blushed, but looked pleased, “Everday only ever gets better as I watch them grow up into such a fine person.”

“Mum!” Frisk complained, now looking embarrassed as she looked around the table to see her monster friends grinning at her.

“I am sorry my dear, but it is true.” Toriel glanced over at a yellow lizard monster and a one-eyed blue fish monster sitting next to her, “Have you two decided if you would like to have children or adopt a bitty?”

The yellow monster blushed, before looking up at the fish monster, who lowered her piece of sushi back to the table, “Between how busy me and Alphys get and the rising tensions with the humans, we’re putting all of that on the back burner.”

“Don’t let the rising tensions get in between you and Alphys’s happiness, Undyne.” The metal robot said to the fish monster.

Undyne narrowed her one remaining eye at the box, “Your stupid books certainly didn’t help, Metatton! Why the hell did you have to publish-!“

“I will have no talk of work here!” Toreil snapped, glaring as Undyne and Metatton stood up to glare at each other. “This is supposed to be a nice gathering of friends, which we all are, aren't we?”

Metatton, after a moment, held his hand out to Undyne, “Of course. I-I know I have caused a bit of trouble for you, but I hope you understand it was never my intentions. No hard feelings, darling?”

Undyne stared at the metal hand, before shaking it, her huge, sharp smile flashing in the light, “Of course not, you overgrown bucket of bolts! Just, you know, maybe ask one of us before you go telling all our secrets to the humans next time, you idiot!”

“I would never reveal all our secrets in just one book.”

“…..That better be a joke, Metatton.”

He waved her off as she settled back in her spot, “I’ve learned from my mistake in all of this.” He sighed heavily, “I guess I need to bite the bullet and try finding a human to help me write any future books up, but trying to find one not associated with any label or without a beef against monsters is getting so hard! And I thought this time would be better too.”

“Th-there’s a lot of hate towards us….ev-ever since the bitties arrived.” Alphys said, speaking up as she twisted her yellow tail nervously, “We-we’re no closer to finding out what happened, aren't we Sans.”

Sans shook his head, ignoring all the stares he was now getting as he sat back, chomping on a hot dog, “nope.”

“You’re back in the lab, Sans?” Asgore asked, clearly surprised, “Not that I’m unhappy to have you back, but when I offered you the job before, you told me ‘pass’.”

Sans shrugged again, “with tina and minty in my life, i guess i found the motivation to get back into the lab.” He sat up, scratching his skull, “still no idea how to reverse whatever it was that made the bitties shrink, but i think we’re getting close.”

As Tina looked up at him in surprise, trying to figure out when he had the time to work in any lab,  Frisk asked, “What about your…side project?”

The question drew a look of confused looks from everyone else and a brief flash of annoyance from Sans that anyone who knew him would see. Still, he shrugged and continued on, nonchalant “putting that aside in the meantime. this is more important.”

“What were you working on?” Alphys asked, leaning in towards him, curious.

“honestly? i don’t know. i’m just following some blueprints. i’m hoping it turns out to be some sort infinite ketchup machine or something.”

“ONLY YOU WOULD HOPE FOR SUCH A MACHINE, SANS!” Papyrus complained as everyone chuckled, “YOU SHOULD BE HOPING THAT IT TURNS OUT TO BE SOME SORT OF SELF-CLEANING MACHINE. MAYBE ONE THAT CAN REMOVE KETCHUP STAINS.”

“if that’s true, it’ll have a love of cleaning to ketchup on.”

“SANS!!”

~*~

Dinner turned out to be a rather enjoyable affair. While Tina didn’t say anything to anyone, she found herself relaxing as everyone else around her chatted. It was obvious that, despite all the different personalities and history, everyone there was great friends with everyone else. Frisk themselves seemed just as happy to sit there and say nothing as Tina was, the two sharing more than a secret smile when the others were still talking. Minty enjoyed himself thoroughly, which really warmed Tina’s heart to see as the boy was so at ease and on great terms with everyone. It was obvious he had really missed this, which made Tina all the more guilty for being the unwitting reason for his absence. Toriel especially seemed to have the strongest bond with him (outside of Papyrus, herself and Sans), although, that might have more to do with the butterscotch cinnamon pie she brought in for the table to enjoy once dinner was eaten. Tina couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy and pain when she saw Minty hugging and nuzzling the fluffy palm as he was handed his plate, but once she had her own slice, she herself had to fight the urge to hug the goat mom.

With everyone full and the table cleared, someone pulled out a deck of cards and a game of 21 started. Tina and Minty were both sitting on Papyrus’s scarf, snuggled up in and enjoying the height that gave them a nice view of the whole table.

“Are you sure you don’t want to play darlings?” Toreil asked yet again as the game was about to start.

Tina just shook her head as Minty explained the obvious, “It’s hard for us to play with big cards, and Asgore’s hands are too big for our small cards.”

“I could always bow out and get that deck instead?” He quickly offered, moving to stand up.

“No,” Tina said, speaking up the first time, “I wouldn’t bother. Minty is about one story away from sleeping and I’m not much for games these days.”

“Hey!” Minty exclaimed as everyone looked at her, shocked, “I am not about to sleep!”

“I’m sorry.” She said, smiling softly as he hugged him closer to his chest and stroking his hair, “I guess you can stay up with me and see the whole game, right?”

“Right!” He said, folding his arms in a pout.

Chuckling, the game started with everyone smiling.

“So, what do you do with your time, Tina?” Toriel asked, “When you’re not looking out for Minty?”

She shrugged, looking to Sans.

“she spends most of her time with me at work or papyrus when it’s time for minty’s playdate.”

“I haven’t seen the lab yet.” Tina pointed out to him, wondering what he would say to her.

“no, but then again, i’m hardly physically there myself.” He grinned up at her after throwing out a card, “there’s little need to be in a lab when it theoretical science. why do you think i take and do so much mundane work?”

“I-I don’t know.” She rubbed her arm, looking away, “You haven’t shared that much with me.”

Sans expression fell as Undyne snorted, “Sans has always been tight-lipped when it comes to himself. I wouldn’t take it so personally.”

“Even when we were telling each other puns through the old Ruins door, he never talked about himself.” Toriel looked up, smiling softly, “It was always ‘Papyrus this’ and ‘Papyrus that’. I had to wait for years before I learned his name, and that required me breaking my oaths to save Frisk.”

Sans and Asgore’s shoulders both slumped.

“i just forget to tell people about myself.” Sans shrugged, “it’s hard to wanna talk about yourself when you’ve got the coolest brother ever.”

“TRUE, BUT YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS.” Papyrus glanced over at her and Minty, seeing the boy starting to nod off with a small smile, “IT’S MY THEORY THAT HE SPENDS SO MUCH TIME ASKING OTHER PEOPLE QUESTIONS, HE FORGETS TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO ASK HIM SOME TOO.” Papyrus chuckled, “HE’S BOTH REALLY GOOD AND REALLY BAD A SMALL TALK.”

“what can i say, some things just go right over my head.”

As Sans and Toriel were both snickering and Papyrus’s eyes boggled out of his skull, Tina was smiling with everyone else….until her eyes met Undyne. Undyne had been watching her the whole night, glances off to the side when nobody else had been looking. While she didn’t appear hostile, the look of shock was somehow just as unsettling.

Seeing Tina throw her own questioning look, Undyne shrugged and continued to watch as other people took their turn.

“everything okay?” Sans asked Undyne as everyone settled again, apparently having been watching the two.

She shrugged, “Not really. I guess I’m just shocked she’s this at ease with all of us.”

“she’s not a racist, undyne.”

“I never said she was.” Undyne said calmly, playing a card, “It’s just weird and all, considering her last owner and all.”

Sans looked confused, “her last owner? what’s that got to do-“

Then he stopped as it clicked. Quickly, he glanced over at her, his eyes shrank to pinpricks. “y-your previous owner was a monster??”

Tina shrugged, stroking Minty’s sleeping head.

“b-but!” Sans whirled to look at Undyne, “you said they were human!”

“I never said anything!” Undyne snapped, glancing quickly at a frowning Asgore and Toriel, “You were the one to assume that, I just didn’t correct you!”

“Okay.” Asgore said, using the full power of his voice, “I think we’ve had enough of this topic. Let’s keep enjoying our game, shall we?”

There was a tense moment as everyone went back to playing in silence.

“Y-you look good Tina.” Alphys said, glancing shyly over her cards at her, “I-I’m glad pe-people were wrong.”

“told ya.” Sans said, grinning proudly over at Undyne

“I wasn’t wrong!” Undyne snapped, slamming the table and startling Minty awake in Tina's lap, “I don’t care how calm she looks, she’s not completely healed and, one day, she is going to snap!”

“Undyne!” Asgore snapped, but Undyne wasn’t done yet.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about Asgore! We’ve both seen it! Both lost people close to us because of it! It's dangerous to be placing Minty at risk like this!”

“SHE WOULD NEVER HURT MINTY!” Papyrus insisted, his hands coming up to cover both Tina and Minty, “I THINK YOU OWE HER AN APOLOGY, UNDYNE!”

“You think I don’t want to apologise?! You think I like being right about this?! Just you wait; something’s going to set her off and next thing you know, you’re going to be stuck with a creature that doesn’t even acknowledge her surroundings or the people screaming her name! I just hope, when that happens, Minty is kept as far from her as possible!”

The room was absolutely silent.

“Sans?” Tina called to him softly, separating herself from Minty’s arms, “Can you take me away from here? Please?”

“gladly.” He replied, throwing a glare at Undyne, “i think people in this room might be projecting shit on you.”

But Tina knew better as she climbed onto Sans’s hand and he teleported them both away.

Everything Undyne said? It was all true. She could snap suddenly and unexpectedly. She could hurt Minty. Hell, she had already snapped and, while it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, it still had taken some control of her mind and instincts, driving her to act and lash out. What happened if the next snap took her completely back to Ten? She was so dangerous, especially to Minty, and no one would ever believe her…because she had never told them the full story.

Things were getting complicated, quickly, and unless she wanted to continue living in this fantasy at the cost of Minty's safety, the time had come, at long last, to tell Sans everything. Maybe then he’d finally believe her and stop enabling her and this false hope that everything was just going to be fine.

Because all Unynde had done was say the unsaid truth that they all knew but were pretending they didn’t.

 

Next Chapter is called: Ten’s Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! New Update and I'm still doing in role rping on my Discord server as any and every character I've got across all my stories, so if you wanted to know what some skeleton would say or respond to whatever action or thing you might say to them, hit me up using the @Rnd_Injustice thing (check out the rules if you need help) and I honestly shouldn't be more than a day or two responding.
> 
> Answering these is super fun for me, helps me flesh out all of these guys and makes me feel like the Discord actually serves a purpose. Beyond that, it's a free for all and open to everyone, so pop in (if you're so inclined)

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update at least once a month, the first Saturday. Enjoy =)  
> Check me out on my Discord Server for in character, Role Playing (rp) responses as any and every character I've got across all my stories, so if you wanted to know what some skeleton would say or respond to whatever action or thing you might say to them, hit me up using the @Rnd_Injustice thing (check out the rules if you need help) and I honestly shouldn't be more than a day or two responding.
> 
> My Discord Server= https://discord.gg/cg4p4ps  
> My tumblr account = https://rnd-injustice.tumblr.com  
> Please, ask me any questions and just have fun guys!


End file.
